Gunrunner scandal comes under scrutiny in the United States Congress

  Brian Terry was doing his job patrolling the border, armed only with a beanbag gun, when he was shot and killed by an illegal alien using a weapon that the United States government knowingly sold to the criminal under the “Project Gunrunner” program.

  Gunrunner was part of a larger government operation called “Fast and Furious” in which the United States ordered certain gun shops along the Mexican border to sell weapons to criminals in order to track the weapons in the hope of following the weapons to known high level Mexican drug lords.

  But as noted above something went horribly wrong and one of the weapons was used in the killing of a United States border patrol agent. The Congress opened up an investigation into this remarkably irresponsible covert operation and we are learning that those who have the most to lose–their lives–expressed their concerns about the program but there were not only ignored but were repudiated for expressing their concerns.

  One agent, John Dodson, went so far as to ask his superiors if they were prepared to attend the funeral of one of their colleagues, but he was simply told that he did not understand the larger plan; this was before the killing of Brian Terry and his question now seems quite prophetic:

On at least a couple of occasions I witnessed Special Agent Dodson ask both Special Agent McAllister and Group Supervisor [Dave] Voth if they were prepared to attend the funeral of a slain agent or officer after he or she was killed with one of those straw purchase firearms,” Senior Special Agent Olindo James Casa told the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

“Neither one answered or even seemed concerned by the question posed to them,” said Casa.

I and other field agents involved in this operation repeatedly raised these concerns with our supervisors,” said Dodson. “In response we were told that we simply did not understand the plan.

“I cannot begin to think of how the risk of letting guns fall into the hands of known criminals could possibly advance any legitimate law enforcement interest,” said Dodson. “I hope the committee will receive a better explanation than I”

  Certainly those that were most closely effected by “Fast and Furious” understood the danger they were being placed in by this operation, it requires the willing suspension of disbelief to believe that those responsible for this deadly decision did not see the danger as well.

  John Dodson went on to testify in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that he was shocked to learn that this program was designed to deliver these weapons into the hands of known criminals and that the border patrol agents were told not to stop these transactions once they were complete.

This is not a matter of some weapons that had gotten away from us or allowing a few to walk so that we could follow them to a much larger, more significant target,” Dodson told the committee. “Allowing loads of weapons that we knew to be destined for criminals was the plan, this was the mandate

Yes. We were mandated, ‘Let these guns go,’” Dodson told the committee

  And in more damning testimony he stated what we all know is the truth, that while these guns and these criminals may eventually be caught, there was the very real possibility that many crimes–including murders–would take place before the “final crime” at which these criminal would be caught.

“Make no mistake,” said Dodson. “There was not a time we were out there on surveillance where we didn’t have the forethought that these were going to be recovered in crimes. The next time we became aware of these guns would be when they were recovered at their final crime–not whatever crime they might have done. It was the last crime that they commit that–not they commit–but the person that has them commit that they’re recovered in.

“There may be nine or 10 that the cartels have perpetrated with those firearms prior to that date, but that recovery date is when we’ll learn about it

  Brian Terry was murdered by a criminal with a gun which was sold to him under the “Fast and Furious” operation, but the truth is that we don’t know how many other crimes were committed with these guns with the United States government theoretically condoning these crimes with their willingness to sell these guns to people they knew would commit crimes.

  But then, with his most searing testimony, John Dodson drove the dagger into the heart of the “Fast and Furious” operation when he stated:

ATF is supposed to be the guardians, the sheep dogs that protect against the wolves that prey upon us, especially along our southern border,” said Dodson. “But rather than meet the wolf head on, we sharpened his teeth, added number to his claw, all the while we sat idly by watching, tracking and noting as he became a more efficient and effective predator”

  We have a dead American on our hands because of this scandal, and who knows how many other crimes have been committed because of this idiotic operation, and the Congress cannot simply sweep this under the rug. Someone needs to be held accountable for the events which led to Brian Terry’s murder and it is inconceivable that higher ups in the Obama regime–possibly even Barack Obama himself–did not know this operation was taking place. A low level person will likely take the fall for the Obama regime, but that simply will not be good enough.

  Someone in the upper echelon of the Obama regime must also take the fall because this operation had to have been approved from on high, and the Congress had better not stop investigating this scandal until we know exactly who initiated this operation. Who knew what, and when did they know it?

 While Brian Terry’s murderer is ultimately responsible for pulling the trigger, he was enabled by someone in the Obama regime. This investigation is just scratching the surface, it is time to peel back the layers of the onion to find out who is responsible for the program which ultimately lead to the death of Brian Terry.