Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) Special Agent John Dodson has been a whistleblower in the Fast and Furious scandal and has testified before Congress about what took place. Earlier this year, following the Inspector General’s report on Fast and Furious, Dodson sought to have a smear campaign at Fortune Magazine against him retracted, which followed the Justice Department purposefully leaking documents to smear him. This was all in preparation for his new book, which hit the shelves on December 3, which the ATF attempted to block Dodson from publishing back in October, and finally claimed he could publish it after they censored it. Following the release of the book, Dodson implicated the Federal Bureau of Investigation as part of what led to the December 14, 2010 murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
According to AZCentral, who spoke with Dodson:
A federal agent who exposed the Justice Department’s flawed gun-trafficking investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious says the FBI played a key role in events leading to the 2010 murder near Nogales, Ariz., of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
John Dodson, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, contends that the bandits who killed Terry were working for FBI operatives and were sent to the border to do a drug rip-off using intelligence from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
“I don’t think the (FBI) assets were part of the rip-off crew,” Dodson said. “I think they were directing the rip crew.”
Dodson’s comments to The Arizona Republic amplify assertions he made in his recently released book, “The Unarmed Truth,” about his role as a whistle-blower in the Fast and Furious debacle.
The AZCentral report went on to report:
In his book, Dodson uses cautious language to characterize his account of circumstances surrounding Terry’s death, saying the information is based on firsthand knowledge, personal opinion and press reports. He asserts that the DEA had information about, and may have orchestrated, a large drug shipment through Peck Canyon that December night. He alleges that DEA agents shared that intelligence with FBI counterparts, who advised criminal informants from another cartel that the load would be “theirs for the taking.”
“Stealing such a shipment would increase the clout of the FBI informants in the cartel organization they had penetrated,” Dodson wrote, “and thus lead to better intel for them in the future.”
In his book, Dodson also claims that those who were purchasing the weapons in the Fast and Furious gunwalking program were using “FBI money to ultimately purchase a significant portion of the firearms” due to the fact that two of Manuel Celis-Acosta’s (the man believed to have been the man targeted, who purchased more than 1,500 weapons) associates were FBI informants.
An IG report from 2012 placed the blame for Fast and Furious on senior Justice Department officials. Just prior to the release of that report, the Inspector General let Holder off the hook, even though his name was on many of the documents related to Fast and Furious.
While the Inspector General’s reports do mention miscommunication and mismanagement among agencies, this is the first time the FBI has been implicated in the operation that led to Brian Terry’s death.
Again, from the AZCentral’s report:
Some of Dodson’s narrative is documented in the Justice Department inspector general’s review, which described how Fast and Furious became tangled with collateral cases under the FBI and DEA. The inspector general’s report says the agencies’ failure to appreciate the significance of the inter-connected cases was “troubling.” However, it does not allege that the DEA knew of a drug shipment going through Peck Canyon, or that the FBI passed such information to informants.
The United States Congress held Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress and is currently pursuing a civil case against him to obtain documents in the case to determine just what took place. Holder has sought to have the case dismissed and his Justice Department has said they will not prosecute him.
Earlier this year, Barack Obama linked Fast and Furious, along with the other scandals that have plagued his presidency, as nothing more than “phony scandals.” However, Brian Terry’s family begs to differ, issuing a statement saying:
“These deaths are real. My son’s death was real. I am outraged that President Obama is talking about phony scandals when he knows all too well that my son was a victim of Operation Fast and Furious that was authorized by members of his Justice Department and a U.S. Attorney that he appointed. Operation Fast and Furious was all too real for me and my family, and it directly contributed to my son’s murder,” Josephine Terry, the mother of Brian Terry said in a statement. “Mr. President, come to Michigan and I will show you my son’s grave…then let’s have a conversation about your definition of phony scandals.“
Might an investigation into the FBI’s involvement in this matter also be in order?
For more, I recommend picking up John Dodson’s book The Unarmed Truth: My Fight to Blow the Whistle and Expose Fast and Furious
H/T IJReview
Don’t forget to Like Freedom Outpost on Facebook, Google Plus, & Twitter. You can also get Freedom Outpost delivered to your Amazon Kindle device here.
Tagged with
