Death By Bureaucracy

WASHINGTON DC – The Justice Department on Monday unsealed an indictment charging five  individuals allegedly involved in Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s death, and  announced a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the arrest of  those suspects still at large.
 
For the first time, federal officials also revealed that Terry and an elite  squad of federal agents initially fired bean bags — not bullets — at a heavily  armed drug cartel crew in the mountains south of Tucson in December 2010. During  the exchange, Terry was shot and killed.
The announcement comes amid an intensifying debate over the department’s  failed Fast and Furious anti-gunrunning operation. Weapons from that program  were found at Terry’s murder scene — Republicans seeking documents pertaining  to Fast and Furious last month escalated their probe by voting to hold Attorney  General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.

Brian Terry 

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government  Reform Committee, praised the department Monday for its announcement but  questioned the timing.
“I applaud what they’re doing, but I condemn the timing. It’s very clear that  the timing has everything to do with the House of Representatives holding Eric  Holder in contempt,” Issa told Fox News.
Issa, who led the contempt push, said Justice could have been doing more to  find the suspects all along — he called the timing of the FBI reward money  “another example of using politics over good policy.”  (read more)