U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered by a Mexican narco-terrorist ‘rip crew’ on American territory. According to recent reports, the gang that shot Terry included an FBI informant who had been apprehended–and then released–by federal authorities. The DEA also “ran” a criminal informant who either participated in or (at least) knew about the rip crew’s whereabout and plans. Terry’s murderer and his associates were armed with rifles deliberately supplied to Mexican drug gangs by the ATF as part of Operation Fast and Furious. Their activities were funded, at least in part, by a DEA money laundering/smuggling scheme that processed tens of millions of dollars for the Mexican drug cartels. The FBI released three of the suspected murders on their own recognizance after Terry’s murder.
There are many other elements to Terry’s killing, and many examples of similar extra-legal, drug cartel-enabling operations by the U.S. government. The U.S. Attorney Office released a grenade maker headed for Mexico. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement allowed ATF-enabled weapons to cross the border without interception. And those are just illegal actions that we know about.
But let’s focus on the conspiracy that killed Agent Terry. The DEA was laundering money for Agent Terry’s murderers, the FBI caught one of them and released him, and the ATF literally put the murder weapons in their hands. All in violation of American statutes and international treaties.
What laws, you ask? Over at pjmedia.com, they asked the man who helped write them. Here’s the 411 from James K Stinebower, a former Navy Intelligence Officer, Professional Staff Member to the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Naval Attache.
I refer to the apparent violation of at least one (probably two) major U.S. laws by the Holder Justice Department. A few years ago, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701, the follow-on to the Trading with the Enemy Act) was expanded in order to criminalize any transactions between U.S. entities — to include departments and agencies of the U.S. government — and all foreign drug cartels.
I am familiar with these prohibitive statues because several years ago, while serving as the senior drug analyst for the Senate Intelligence Committee, I was tasked to initiate and became the principal drafter of legislation which became known as the Kingpin Act (21 U.S.C. §§ 1901-08). The Kingpin Act is an extension of the highly successful IEEPA [International Emergency Economic Powers Act] sanctioning program specifically targeting Colombian drug cartels. It expands sanctions authority against various drug cartel operations worldwide — including Mexico — which have been determined by the president to be threats to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.
A violation of any of the IEEPA sanctioning programs or the Kingpin Act carries stiff penalties, both criminal and civil, and potentially totaling decades in prison and tens of millions of dollars in fines. It is not necessary that an individual or governmental entity be shown to have “knowingly” violated any of these programs: it is illegal for any U.S. entity or individual to aid, abet, or materially assist — or in the case of Operation Fast and Furious, to facilitate others to aid, abet, or materially assist — designated drug traffickers. There are no exceptions within IEEPA programs for unlicensed U.S. law enforcement or intelligence agency operations.
If you or I or any other American citizen laundered money for narco-terrorists and then armed them with rifles they weren’t allowed to purchase, we’d go to prison for a long, long time. The people within the federal agencies who responsible for these extra-legal activities are subject to the same legal restrictions as any American citizen unless . . .
There is a provision in the Kingpin Act for “authorized” law enforcement and intelligence activities, however the only procedure by which an Operation Fast and Furious program could have been “authorized” under the Kingpin Act was by the U.S. attorney general requesting a waiver (known within the Treasury Department as a Specific License), prior to any such operation being undertaken . . .
As part of Congress’ ongoing investigation, as well as its constitutionally mandated oversight activities, it should be asked of Attorney General Holder if any such specific licenses were requested or granted by the Treasury Department. Additionally, Treasury Secretary Geithner should explain whether his Department has begun an investigation into these apparent violations of IEEPA and the Kingpin Act.
Memo to Attorney General Eric Holder: show us the waiver or go to prison. It’s that simple. Or at least it should be.
This isn’t a ‘Red’ or ‘Blue’ issue, or a matter of liberalism or conservatism; it is a question of justice and the rule of law. These agencies acted with complete disregard for the rule of law in pursuit (or so they claim) of Mexican narco-terrorists, none of whom have yet been apprehended.
If President Obama had foreknowledge of the FBI, ATF and DEA programs that lead up to the murder of Brian Terry, if the President knew about and/or authorized the coverup of his government’s participation in Terry’s murder and other “black bag jobs,” the President of the United States must be impeached and removed from office, and his subordinates prosecuted.
In the United States, no one is above the law, no matter what their rationale. Not even the President of the United States.