Thu 24 December 2020:
US President Donald Trump pardons for the four Blackwater security contractors who were convicted of murder and manslaughter six years ago, has caused international uproar, including in Iraq where people expressed outrage and sadness.
The United Nations’ human rights office said on Wednesday that it was “deeply concerned” by the pardons, which it said “contributes to impunity and has the effect of emboldening others to commit such crimes in the future”.
Retired US general Mark Hertling, who served in Iraq, called the pardon “egregious and disgusting”.
Many will be wringing their hands about Papadopoulos, but in my view the pardon of the Blackwater employees is the most egregious and disgusting of @realDonaldTrump actions. This was a graven war crime that resulted in the death of 17 Iraqi civilians. Shame on you Mr President. https://t.co/trGAbHu3WB
— Mark Hertling (@MarkHertling) December 23, 2020
The US’s largest Muslim civil rights organization on Wednesday condemned President Donald Trump’s decision to grant clemency to four former Blackwater contractors convicted of killing Iraqi civilians.
National Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Nihad Awad said the decision lacks respect for the US legal system and “the sanctity of human life, especially the lives of Muslims and people of color.”
“These Blackwater mercenaries were convicted of perpetrating one of the most infamous war crimes of the American occupation of Iraq. Pardoning them is an unconscionable act of moral insanity,” said Awad.
On Wednesday, Iraq’s Foreign Ministry said the move did not “take into account the seriousness of the crime committed”, and urged the US to review its decision.
“The infamous Blackwater company killed Iraqi citizens at Nisour Square. Today we heard they were released upon personal order by President Trump, as if they don’t care for the spilled Iraqi blood,” said Saleh Abed, a Baghdad resident.
“I knew we’d never get justice,” Fares Saadi, the Iraqi police officer who led the investigations, told AFP news agency.
A former classmate of a medical student killed at the time called the pardons “an utter outrage” but said they were not surprising.
“As far as they are concerned, our blood is cheaper than water and our demands for justice and accountability are merely a nuisance,” the classmate said, requesting anonymity.
According to an analysis by Harvard University law professor Jack Goldsmith and an assistant, Matthew Gluck, at least 42 of the 65 pardons Trump has issued so far were “to advance a political agenda” while only five were recommended by the official White House pardons attorney.
In March 2003, the US invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein.
The human cost of the US occupation was high with more than 100,000 civilian deaths along with evidence of torture and abuse in US-run prisons.
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