‘I FEEL LIKE I ACTED CORRECTLY’: BLACKWATER CONTRACTOR DEFENDS ACTIONS IN IRAQ

Sun 03 January 2021:

One of the four former Blackwater contractors pardoned by President Donald Trump for his role in a Baghdad shooting rampage has defended his actions in the incident, during a 2007 shooting in which 14 civilians were killed and 17 others wounded, as the FBI agent who investigated the case calls it a ‘massacre’ and UN experts claim the pardons violate international law.

‘I feel like I acted correctly,’ Liberty said of his conduct in 2007, In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press news agency, since being released from prison. ‘I regret any innocent loss of life, but I’m just confident in how I acted and I can basically feel peace with that.’

Evan Liberty was convicted of voluntary and attempted manslaughter in the 2007 incident in which U.S. contractors opened fire in busy traffic in Baghdad’s Nisour Square and killed 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians.

He says he’s grateful to his supporters and to Trump for what he calls a ‘second chance at life.’

Liberty, Slough and Heard were convicted of voluntary manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and other charges in a 2014 trial. After an appeal and resentencing, they were each given between 12- and 15-year prison terms.

Presidential pardons have historically been reserved for nonviolent crimes.

The most recent ones came amid a series of controversial Trump orders in the waning days of his administration, which ends on January 20. They include high-profile Trump allies charged as part of an investigation into the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russia, including campaign manager Paul Manafort and confidant Roger Stone.

On Thursday, a group of UN experts called Trump’s pardons of the Blackwater employees a violation of US obligations under international law.

Sarah Holewinksi, a Washington director at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera in December that the pardons were an “insult to justice and an insult to the victims who waited so many years to see some measure of justice”.

The Blackwater rampage marked one of the darkest chapters of the Iraq war, staining the U.S. government reputation and prompting an international outcry about the role of contractors in military zones.

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