Anyone remember Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agent Jaime Zapata? Agent Zapata was assassinated by drug thugs wielding ATF-enabled firearms in Mexico. (Zapata’s murder fell below the media and political radar in light of the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, also gunned down by drug thugs wielding ATF-enabled firearms.) We still don’t know why Zapata was in Mexico. Nor do we know why a U.S. Border Patrol Agent and two of his “retired” colleagues (including one ICE agent) were in Afghanistan. Dangerous place, apparently . . .
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says a Border Patrol agent working in Afghanistan killed the gunman involved in a deadly attack on a group of civilian contractors in that country this week,” hstoday.us reports.
Three contractors were killed in Sunday’s attack. Napolitano says two were former Homeland Security employees. She identified the Americans as Benjamin Monsivais, a former Border Patrol agent and retired Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, and retired CBP port director Joseph Perez. A British contractor also died in the attack. A person wearing an Afghan police uniform turned his gun on the contractors.
Spooky stuff.
The secretary told the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday about the current Border Patrol agent’s role. She did not identify the agent or describe the work that person is doing in Afghanistan.
Call me a journalist (although Ralph tells me bloggers aren’t journalists in any legal sense) but I’d like to know what the Committee knows: whats the DHS doing in Mexico and Afghanistan? Aren’t foreign ops supposed to be a CIA deal? It looks like the whole U.S. “War on Terror” in Afghanistan has gone interagency and . . . quiet.
FYI: the American Contractors in Iraq reports 59 of their ilk have been killed in the second quarter of 2012 (so far) vs. 418 deaths in all of 2011. As the toll mounts, what’s with calling these attacks “green on blue”? If they’re not evidence of increasing Taliban infiltration of Afghan forces I don’t know what is.
The Feds are gearing up for crowd control in advance of the next elections (see http://rt.com/usa/news/dhs-unrest-gear-283/) for details. A Supreme Court Justice (Scalia) just warned that “guns may be regulated” (see http://www.nationaljournal.com/scalia-guns-may-be-regulated-20120729).
Why else would you expect to see Federal Law Enforcement agents practicing sniper tactics on foreign soil? To use against American citizens along with the drones that will be deployed “for our safety” by Big Sister when gun owners resist turning in their weapons as will be required.
Not a pretty picture.
I for one, welcome our new insect overlords. I’d like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.
Dude, you stole that from the Yankee marshal on YouTube!
> Dude, you stole that from the Yankee marshal on YouTube!
The “I for one welcome our new _______ overlords” meme is a lot older than “the Yankee marshal on YouTube”, whoever that is.
It’s from The Simpsons episode “Deep Space Homer“, which originally aired on February 24, 1994 — 11 years before YouTube was created.
The DHS, FBI, US Border Patrol do missions overseas. Perhaps the agent is simply an expert on border security and was in the right place at the right time to take out an unexpected sniper.
The US Military, CIA do missions domestically. I’ve spoken with a US Spec Ops soldier whose team has done anti-drug recon work in Oregon seeking out large marijuana operations. Oregon legally allows small regulated growing for medical marijuana use.
“although Ralph tells me bloggers aren’t journalists in any legal sense”
What the hell is the “legal sense” of journalist?
http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/09/shield-law-definition-of-journalist-gets-professionalized/
Two Federal district court judges (so far) have ruled that bloggers are not journalists.
The MSM guards its special privileges zealously, as if the First Amendment protects only them. Well, c’mon. What did you expect?
If a man has pieces published as a journalist or a free-lance journalist, and then also publishes the same materials on his blog what then is he?
You already know the answer.
What came first the chicken or the dinosaur?
He was probably a member of BORTAC. BORTAC is the tactical/special response arm of the United States Border Patrol.
“The mission of BORTAC is “to respond to terrorist threats of all types anywhere in the world in order to protect our nation’s homeland.”
The unit was first formed in 1984 to deal with disturbances occurring within INS detention facilities, but this mission is now handled by ICE, Enforcement & Removal Operations (ERO), Special Response Teams (SRT). Since its inception BORTAC has steadily expanded its scope and mission capabilities, and is now a rapid response unit capable of executing both foreign and national level domestic operations. BORTAC members have operated in 28 countries around the world. Missions have included international training/advisory functions, counter terrorism operations, counter narcotics operations, high-risk warrant service, dignitary protection, interdiction & patrol operations, and tactical training to other U.S. agencies and military units.
Military speak to answer your question….
BLUE FORCES = U.S. Forces
GREEN FORCES = Allies
RED FORCES = Enemies
GREEN ON BLUE = One of our allies turning their weapon on us.
uhm K…
That is interesting. I think geeknik’s answer would probably be the most accurate reason as to why, but even still, it is really pushing it. Hope those guys get hazard pay.
There are Law Enforcement Professionals (LEPs) working with the US Military in A-Stan. Most of them are retired ATF, ICE, CBP agents as well as LEO who are looking for more work and money and who want to serve their country after they have retired. They bring unique skills to COIN operations. They assist US Military in developing foreign Police forces as well as assisting US Forces in sensitive site exploitation.
LEPs are contractors that make big $ to help the US Military in COIN operations.
If you think about it, Crime in America is a type of insurgency, especially International Crime organizations working inside the borders of the United States. LEPs bring a unique experience base to US Military that we do not have because of our military training and mission.
To follow up with the LEO information above (which I can confirm is correct because I work with them daily) there are lots of government functions that a fledgling state needs to master. In Afghanistan there are representatives from the US for everything from Law Enforcement to Border Patrol to Farming and Economic Development. There’s no conspiracy, just a lot of Americans working to get this country and its government on its feet and running.
There is certainly a conspiracy. It is to rob the American tax payer and to subjugate others.
Really?
What is going on inside that head of yours?
FLAME DELETED
“get this country and its government on its feet and running.”
That will never in a million years happen in Afghanistan.
LEO who are looking for more work and money and who want to serve their country after they have retired
If they wanted to serve their country they would volunteer for community service projects, instead they are serving the interests of the politicians. These LEPs want to rob the American tax payer blind, first thru their pension from their LEO career and then again as a mercenary. Welfare queens extraordinaire.
For the record, I have volunteered for community service and mission trips. I’ve helped dental and medical teams in Guatemala, painted schools, cleaned parks, moved old folks, cleaned homes, and donated blood.
Secondly, Afghanistan contracts are also available to civilian personnel.
On an unrelated note, here is a link to a tinfoil hat on eBay:http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=tinfoil+hat.
Have a nice day!
RF, where are you finding reports that a “sniper” attacked DHS/DOD personnel? How are you receiving more information about this incident than what is being reported to the agents? Do you have a confidential source within DHS?
BTW, I’m getting really tired of the misuse of the word “sniper”. To be a sniper requires a tremendous amount of skill, training, dedication, and patience. A more appropriate descriptive term would be a skilled rifleman or designated marksman. A sniper is the pinnacle of marksmanship. The word sniper has been misused and maligned so much by the press and popular fiction that the word has a negative connotation. A “sniper” now means an evil person committing illegal acts with a rifle. It use to be when a soldier was called a sniper, that was an honorable title.
Also, enough with the black ops talk. Since operations began in Iraq and Afghanistan, requests for volunteers have routinely been sent to patrol agents to serve mostly as trainers for the respective countries to develop their own version of the Border Patrol. Nothing spooky about it, RF.
The word sniper has been misused and maligned so much by the press and popular fiction that the word has a negative connotation… . It use to be when a soldier was called a sniper, that was an honorable title.
It has traditionally had negative connotations. From wikipedia
“The negative reputation of snipers can be traced back to the American Revolution, when American “Marksmen” would intentionally target British officers, an act considered uncivilized by the British Army at the time (this reputation would be cemented during the Battle of Saratoga, when Benedict Arnold allegedly ordered his marksmen to target British General Simon Fraser, an act that would win the battle and French support).”
That’s a pretty weak counter-point. On the battlefield, removing the enemy’s command structure is a worthy objective.
When has it ever had position connotations outside of fellow service members or mall ninjas?
Ill bet all this started when the Customs head honcho offered our hero a choice of assignments;the Chicago Field office, or Afghanistan. He wisely choose the safer post.
Our Government(you and I) are trying to put Afghanistan back together, with economic, security and other development options. Afghanistan is rich with rare-earth minerals and other resouces and continues to be a hot bed for war-makers. If the people of Afghanistan are to have chance to live full and peaceful lives, they are in need of assistance to establish the systems needed for security, economic and natural resource development. The environment is a challenge as well as the continued actions of ‘hostiles'(those who are against change and those who are fighting for Islamic domination). Persons of all expertise are needed to meet these goals and some are going to pay the highest price. There is no hidden agenda. Just people trying to do the right thing( while earning a living, doing work they like/know). It is always sad to see people die trying to help others.
The ‘War on Terror’ has always been ‘interagency’ and for your information has been running since 1776. There are and always has been individuals and groups wanting the US and western societies ‘shut down’. There is nothing new here except in its access/openness and enlargement.
As far as ‘ATF-enable weapons’ being ‘used to assassinate agents’: guns don’t kill people people kill people. One should be concerned about who killed them than where the guns came from. You are mutting any argument against ‘anti-gunners’ by continuing to focus ATF-supplied guns. They would have aqired guns elsewhere and the out come would have been the same. “ATF Gun Running” and “killing of any US Agents” are two seperate issues, that though there may be a bleeding together, are not the conspiracy some think.
de Oppresso Liber (liberate the oppressed)!
Nous Defions
Our Government(you and I) are trying to put Afghanistan back together, with economic, security and other development options.
The only reason we need to put it back together, is because we broke it in the first place.
Afghanistan is rich with rare-earth minerals and other resouces and continues to be a hot bed for war-makers.
The war makers being the USA?
If the people of Afghanistan are to have chance to live full and peaceful lives, they are in need of assistance to establish the systems needed for security, economic and natural resource development.
They had plenty of that before the US came in.
The environment is a challenge as well as the continued actions of ‘hostiles’(those who are against change and those who are fighting for Islamic domination).
The hostiles are US forces. If you didnt notice, the people of Afghanistan have been the ones fighting us. Oh noes, a Islamic ran country instead of a Christan ran country, oh my!
There is no hidden agenda. Just people trying to do the right thing( while earning a living, doing work they like/know).
How is what the troops/mercenaries are doing the “right thing”? Killing others because a politician or business man ordered them to, is the “right” thing?
The ‘War on Terror’ has always been ‘interagency’ and for your information has been running since 1776. There are and always has been individuals and groups wanting the US and western societies ‘shut down’. There is nothing new here except in its access/openness and enlargement.
Care to provide a reference?
de Oppresso Liber (liberate the oppressed)!
You should look up the definition of “oppressed”. The sole purpose of governments is organized coercion. Any “citizen” who is not one willfully and wantonly by definition is oppressed.
+1
“Dude” Matt:
Reality, bluntly is: The Taliban(Pakistan), al Quaeda, and their partners, do NOT give hoot about you and your ideas.
As soon as we (US and its partners) leave full ops in AFG the previous rulers will move in. When they move in, China comes as a partner (who has made a deal for a hateful peace between the two to take the tillions of dollars in rare earth minerals). The objective of US is qickly stabilize the area for freedom. If this is not done: China profits and the Islamic Extremist have more dollars to wage jihad against ‘the far west enemy”(US and western society). The rulers of AFG , and their ‘friends’ attacked us first, several times, after help from US in their fight with USSR. They(Taliban, aQ, Islamic Fund.) wil cont. to attack. And your life will be a changing soon. Enjoy, wether you believe it or not.
Nous Defions
Sorry, but we attacked Afghanistan and created this mess. Yes, a small group of people in Afghanistan attacked us, but instead of eliminating those people, we attacked an entire country. Everything that you write about how they need security is none of our business. So Afghanistan wants to be an Islamic theocracy? That’s their choice to make, NOT yours. Those “hostiles” that you kill are merely people trying to resist an invading army with no justification for being in their country. You would do the same if a foreign country invaded the US and started murdering thousands of people.
The “War on Terror” is a joke. First off, it cannot be won. Secondly, they aren’t attacking us because they’re jealous, they attacked us becasuse people like you spent decades sticking your nose where it didn’t belong and meddeling in the internal affairs of other countries. Every war we were involved in for the past century except WWII was a war of aggression that the US had no justification to be involved in – they were all about cramming our views down other peoples throats at the point of a gun.
Wow, you’re seriously defending the ATF scum for providing weapons to known violent criminals? Thank you for openly admitting that my opinion of the US military being scum who don’t give a damn about doing the right thing or obeying the Constitution is accurate. You are exactly why I support gutting the military and going back to how our military was supposed to be – a small group of full time soldiers and then calling up citizens to join when large numbers are needed to fight off an attack. The reason why the Founding Fathers didn’t want a large standing army is because they knew it would be used against the people.
I’m curious as to how you consider murdering people who disagree with you “liberating” them. Sounds like the thought process of a serial killer. In Afghanistan, and many other countries over the years, you (the US government & military) are the oppressors by thinking that you are always right and that any country that decides to make different decisions needs to have your rifle slammed through their face before executing them.
Sorry but your generalization of US Military being scum is somewhat off the mark and uncalled for!!!!
As a 15 yr veteran I will be the first to admit there are bad people in every walk of life and every job!!!!
But as a whole the military are a good bunch of people!!!! They have volunteered for many things over the years to help out in disasters, war zones and even on the “war on drugs” here on US soil!!!!
If you can find the info there are missions run on US soil to hunt drug runners, growers, and manufacturers!!!! In 15 yrs I have taken part in 7 of these missions, 4 as a LRS Team Leader and 3 as a team member!!!!
So no we are not all scum!!!!! Some of us try to do good in the world too!!!! Just my honest opinion!!!!
Sorry, but people who willingly sign up to blindly murder whoever they’re told to by a bunch of octogenarian sociopaths aren’t “good people”.
The military has no business wasting taxpayer money cleaning up after a natural disaster and seeing how every war we’ve been in for the past century other than WWII was completely unjustified and was simply about cramming politicians views down other countries throats, that’s not saying anything good about the military either. And do I really need to point out to you how horrible the War on Personal Choice – er “Drugs” – has been for this country? We have hundreds of thousands (probably millions) of people who didn’t hurt anyone sitting in jail with their lives ruined as a result or you trying to force your personal preferences on others, not to mention the violence that comes along with prohibition – which the government should have learned 80 years ago when they had the War on Alcohol, which caused rampant crime and violence.
If you can find the info there are missions run on US soil to hunt drug runners, growers, and manufacturers!
Thank you for admitting the you’re hunting people who’ve done nothing wrong. Next you’ll be hunting people who grow tobacco, drink alcohol, wear clothing you don’t deem “appropriate”, and people who don’t regularly attend church.
In 15 yrs I have taken part in 7 of these missions, 4 as a LRS Team Leader and 3 as a team member!!!!
Murdering people when they haven’t hurt anyone makes you scum. Sorry that you think your religion entitles you to kill any who disagree, but you’re not the good guy here.
Ok then!!!
Well first off I didn’t blindly volunteer to murder anyone!!!! No I don’t necessarily agree with every action, conflict, etc that the US military has been involved in but so be it!!!!
Maybe I am missing something here but how is it a waste of taxpayers money for the military( both active duty and reserves) to help cleanup after a natural disaster??? There are unfortunately a lot of lives lost and destroyed because of such disasters and as far as when I served we volunteered to help out, we were not told to or ordered to!!! Just being compassionate and human is all!!!
Please explain to me how trying to put a stop to drug dealers is hurting them???? I will agree that there are people in jail and prison who are unjustly accused but hundreds of thousands or millions??? Who didn’t hurt anyone??! What the hell do you call it when a 14 year old child dies of a merh overdose that was put in his drink at school while he was participating on sports??!! Yes it happened, I was one of the ER personnel who worked on that young man for over an hour because one of the people you say aren’t hurting anyone spiked 8 kids drinks while they were at practice!!!! Unfortunately he didn’t survive but the other 7 did!!!!
You know I firmly believe in everyone’s right to free speech, freedom of religion, right to bear arms, etc but anyone who would knowingly harm a kid like that should have their balls cut off, stuffed down their throat and have their mouth sewn shut!!!!
And anyone who believes that that person was doing No Harm should suffer the same fate!!!!
I do use tobacco, occasionally take a drink or two and practice freedom of religion everyday!!!! No I don’t attend church regularly but do have a very firm belief in God and Jesus Christ!!!!
As far as murdering people you are very wrong!!!! We never killed anyone before, during or after any of those missions!!!! Yet we lost 2 team members in 1 mission because those harmless people you so staunchly defend filled coffee cans with gunpowder, nails and steel shot which went off by remote trigger when we were clearing a meth lab!!!! You tell me that they harmed no one and I would refer you to their wife’s and children who are now without their husbands and dads!!!!
If you can justify in your mind the damage they have done to people and their families then you Sir are in need of some serious mental and spiritual help!!!
This is just my honest opinion!!!!
Have a good day and God Bless You!!!!
Signing up to kill whoever the government tells you to means blindly murdering people without thinking.
It’s a waste of taxpayers money because you’re the military – your job is to kill people, NOT to be picking up trash. It’s a waste of my (and millions of other peoples) money for you to be fixing local problems in New Orleans. Local issues are supposed to be handled by the LOCAL government.
No one is harmed by a drug dealer selling drugs. As long as the person they’re selling it to is an adult, there is no justification whatsoever to kill / imprison either person. Drug posession / drug dealing is the primary reason for most of the inmates we have in the US – and we imprison a higher percentage of our population they fucking China. That’s when you know it’s out of control.
A drug dealer didn’t put meth in the drink at that school, some asshole did. The person who sold the drugs did nothing wrong, only the person who chose to put it in there to intentionally harm someone. If they had used rat poison instaed, would you be running out to kill the owner of the store that sold the rat poison? I doubt it.
The fact that you cannot distinguish between something being illegal because some asshole politician saying it should be and something being illegal because it hurts innocent people is worrying, but not uncommon for LEO’s / military. As for the people killed while trying to harm the people making meth? Again, they were doing nothing wrong by creating a product and you were the agressors. If you don’t want to get hurt, you shouldn’t break into people’s homes and try to kill them. What happened is no different than a burglar or rapist getting shot while breaking into a home. They only have to resort to violence because YOU force them to in order to stay alive. If you weren’t trying to kill them, they would’ve feel threatened and defend themselves.
whats the DHS doing in Mexico and Afghanistan?
Is it surprising that the Department of Homeland Terrorism is going to countries ruled by terror so that they can get tips on enacting it here?
DEA agents have been in Afghanistan for some time now. It’s somewhat controversial since they’re basically placed in a combat role — although it’s arguably not so different from what they do in the US, just a lot more dangerous.
The two retired colleagues were probably US military contractors and the agent may have been over there getting training with the contractors. The simplest answer is usually the correct one.
wrong article.
you do what you gotta do in order to profit from the opium trade in afghanistan. Im not talking about the taliban…im talking about the US government.
Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila were not just ICE agents. They were both Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agents. I happened to see the Acronym (HSI) while following a series of links connected to another story about (OCDETF) and Andrew McCarthy’s (June 23, 2012 Fast and Furious and OCDETF story on National Review OnLine and conducted a Google Search on it. As it turns out Wikipedia has reasonably detailed information on the Homeland Security (HSI) agency. Interestingly it is the 2nd largest federal law enforcement agency in the country and is relatively unknown. I personally had never heard of HSI and had no idea that Sister Nappy has her own “Bureau of Investigation” that allegedly rivals the FBI. Wickipedia says the agency has a broader range of jurisdiction than any other federal agency.
I’m guessing that the “sniper” in Afghanistan is also HSI. “Spooky” is probably pretty close to a true assessment.
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