John Dodson, the federal agent who blew the lid off the Justice Department’s “Fast and Furious” gun-walking scandal, claims the FBI had ties to the men who killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010 near Nogales, Ariz. In fact, Dodson says the Mexican bandits who gunned down Terry were working for FBI operatives and had been sent to the border to do a “drug rip-off” using intelligence gathered by the DEA.
Dodson, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said he doesn’t think the FBI was part of the rip-off crew, but the agency was “directing the rip crew.” The explosive claims were made in an interview with The Arizona Republic this week and are already creating some waves across the Internet.
The allegations are also found in Dodson’s recently released book, “The Unarmed Truth,” which chronicles his role as a whistleblower during Operation Fast and Furious. The Obama administration unsuccessfully tried to block the publication of his book.
AZCentral.com has more background on Fast and Furious:
Terry belonged to an elite Border Patrol tactical team sent to a remote area known as Peck Canyon, roughly a dozen miles northwest of Nogales, where violence had escalated because criminal gangs were stealing narcotics from drug runners known as mules. He was slain in a shootout with several bandits. Two assault-type rifles found at the scene were subsequently traced to Fast and Furious.The operation, based in Phoenix, was launched in 2009 to identify and prosecute drug lords, but instead allowed guns to be “walked” into the hands of Mexican criminals. ATF agents encouraged licensed firearms dealers in Arizona to sell more than 2,000 weapons to known “straw buyers” who were working for cartels. Instead of arresting suspects immediately, surveillance agents took notes and let them disappear with the guns.After the Terry slaying and an attempted cover-up within the Justice Department, Dodson provided evidence and testimony to Congress. His revelations, later verified by an Office of the Inspector General’s report, ignited a national scandal over Fast and Furious that resulted in a congressional contempt citation against Attorney General Eric Holder and the replacement of top ATF and Justice Department officials.In his book, Dodson uses cautious language to characterize his account of circumstances surrounding Terry’s death, saying theinformation 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.”
This Friday, June 24, 2011 picture shows ATF agent-turned-whistleblower John Dodson in Phoenix. (Photo: AP/Matt York)
Dodson laid out a strategy in which federal law enforcement agencies, like the FBI, allow criminal activity in order to increase the clout of FBI informants embedded within cartel organizations.
“If they can get these guys (informants) in a position so they’re closer to the Tier 1 or Tier 2 guy (in the cartel), they’ll do it. They want to make these guys (operatives) rock stars,” he said.
The alleged border “rip-off” that ended in Terry’s death is one of these situations, Dodson claims.
Border Agent Brian Terry (AP)
The FBI operates as if the ends justify the means because they believe “these crimes are going to be happening anyway,” Dodson explained. The ultimate goal is to gain as much intelligence on cartels as possible.
“Essentially, the United States government is involved in cartel-building,” Dodson said.
The claims sound eerily familiar to allegations brought forward by high-ranking Sinaloa Cartel operative Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, who is currently facing trial in Chicago on federal drug charges.
As previously reported by TheBlaze, Zambada-Niebla claims he was granted immunity during a 2011 meeting with DEA agents in Mexico in exchange for intel. The federal government uses a “divide and conquer” strategy to dismantle other cartels in Mexico, entering into agreements with ruthless drug cartels.
“(They) were given carte blanche to continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs into Chicago and the rest of the United States and were also protected by the United States government from arrest and prosecution in return for providing information against rival cartels which helped Mexican and United States authorities capture or kill thousands of rival cartel members,” the defense motion in the case reads.
Because he continues to be outspoken about Fast and Furious, Dodson says he is treated like a pariah.
Read The Arizona Republic’s full report here.
Book claims feds had ties to killers of Ariz. border agent
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