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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned four former government contractors convicted of a 2007 massacre in Baghdad that killed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians and an international riot over the use of private security forces in was triggered in a war zone.
Supporters of the former Blackwater Worldwide contractors had advocated the pardon, arguing that the men had been excessively punished in an investigation and prosecution they believed was depraved. All four were serving long sentences.
« Paul Slough and his colleagues didn’t deserve a minute in jail, » said Brian Heberlig, attorney for one of the four pardoned Blackwater defendants. “I am overwhelmed with emotion at this fantastic news. ”
The pardons issued in the last few days of Trump’s only term in office reflect Trump’s apparent willingness to give American soldiers and contractors the benefit of the doubt when it comes to acts of violence against civilians in war zones. Last November he pardoned a former U. . S.. . Army command due to stand trial next year for suspected Afghan bomb maker and former army lieutenant convicted of murder for ordering his men to shoot three Afghans.
The Blackwater case has taken a complicated path since the Nisoor Square murders in Baghdad in September 2007, when the men, former veterans who worked as contractors for the State Department, opened fire at the crowded roundabout.
Prosecutors alleged the heavily armed Blackwater convoy launched an unprovoked attack using sniper fire, machine guns and grenade launchers. Defense attorneys argued that their clients returned fire after being ambushed by Iraqi insurgents.
You were convicted in Washington federal court in 2014 after months of trial, and each man defiantly pleaded innocence at a hearing the following year.
« I feel completely betrayed by the same government I have honored, » Slough told the court in a hearing held by nearly 100 friends and relatives of the guards.
Slough and two others, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard, were sentenced to 30 years in prison. After a federal appeals court ordered the new conviction, they each received a much shorter sentence. A fourth, Nicholas Slatten, whom the prosecution held responsible for igniting the firefight, was sentenced to life in prison.
A federal appeals court later cut Slatten’s first-degree murder conviction, but the Justice Department tried again and secured another life sentence last year.
Heard’s attorney David Schertler said they were « thrilled and grateful » for the pardon. « We have always believed in Dustin’s innocence and never gave up the fight to defend himself. He has served his country with honor and today he finally has his well-deserved freedom. ”
A Liberty attorney, Bill Coffield, said, « These are four innocent men and that is perfectly justified. “
The trial took place years after the men were dismissed when a judge ruled that the Justice Department withheld evidence from a grand jury and violated the guards’ constitutional rights. The sacking outraged many Iraqis, who said it showed that Americans consider themselves above the law.
Joe Biden, who spoke as Vice President in Baghdad in 2010, expressed his « personal regret » for the shootings when he stated that the U. . S.. . would appeal the court decision.
Blackwater contractors were notorious in Baghdad at the time and were often accused of firing gunshots on the slightest pretext, including to clear their way in traffic. The roundabout shooting was notable for the number of people killed, but at the time it was anything but an isolated incident in Iraq.
Armed militants against the U. . S.. . The presence in Iraq frequently used vehicle bombs in traffic alongside Western and Iraqi motorcades, making the ubiquitous armed guards who escorted most of the dignitaries particularly nervous – and in Blackwater’s case insisting on not allowing other vehicles in their vicinity.
Blackwater was founded by Erik Prince, an ally of Trump and the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. It has since been renamed.
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World news – CA – Trump apologizes security company in fatal shots in Iraq
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