Medals Are Called ‘Slap In The Face’

Awarding officers in the Ruby Ridge siege medals of valor is “truly a slap in the face to the Weavers,” said U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth.

The August 1992 standoff at Randy Weaver’s mountaintop cabin “is not the kind of incident that people should be receiving awards for,” said Chenoweth, R-Idaho.

Federal agencies instead should be “analyzing their errors to ensure that future operations are not bungled in the same manner.”

Last week, the U.S. Marshals Service announced that five officers involved would receive the honors.

Weaver’s son Sam and a U.S. marshal were killed in the initial shootout. An FBI sniper later shot and killed Weaver’s wife Vicky.

“Investigations carried out by the agencies involved, as well as congressional investigations, clearly showed that the operation at Ruby Ridge was poorly constructed and mishandled,” Chenoweth said. “The Marshal’s Service is handing out awards like they didn’t do anything wrong.”

, DataTimes