OMG, when will this end.
Trump Considers Pardoning Blackwater Mercenary Convicted of Murder
An effort to clear a Blackwater merc doing life for murder in the infamous Nisour Square massacre may soon bear fruit, multiple sources tell The Daily Beast.
Asawin Suebsaeng White House Reporter
Spencer Ackerman Senior Nat’l Security Correspondent
Updated Jan. 03, 2020
Less than two months after granting clemency to three convicted or accused war criminals, Donald Trump is considering pardoning a man convicted of murder in one of the worst atrocities of the Iraq war—someone who served under the command of an infamous for-profit army.
In recent weeks, the president has asked close advisers what they think of additional clemency, according to a source close to the president and a senior administration official. “He’s said he wants to do more,” said the administration official, who discussed this case, as well as others, with the president. “There are more warriors out there who he believes have been treated unfairly and whose [cases] need another look.”
Not all of those “warriors” are U.S. servicemembers, however.
The Daily Beast has learned that Trump is still quietly weighing pardoning at least one employee of the private army Blackwater, Nicholas Slatten. Convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, Slatten, a former U.S. Army sniper, took part in the contractor’s infamous 2007 massacre at the Nisour Square traffic circle in Baghdad. Blackwater was founded by Trump ally Erik Prince, who has insisted for over a decade that the company was railroaded after Nisour Square by an American left gone insane.
The White House declined comment on this story on Thursday afternoon.
Should Trump go through with the Blackwater pardon, it would be a stunning denouement to a wrenching episode in which Iraqis watched 10 men, two women and two pre-teen boys die violently despite being unarmed commuters.
Ever since, U.S. diplomats have counseled the Iraqis to trust in the American justice system–which turned Nisour Square into a prolonged legal fiasco. And any clemency for Slatten would happen in the aftermath of angry Iraqis storming the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, which has raised questions about the Iraqi government’s willingness to continue the U.S. military presence.
“Nick is innocent, and recent revelations of government misconduct prove that prosecutors lied to the court, lied to Nick's jury, and have been lying to the American public for over a decade to obtain Nick's wrongful conviction,” Slatten’s sister, Jessica Slatten, said in a statement to The Daily Beast. “Without a pardon, Nick may die in prison for a war-zone shooting he did not commit.”
But Gary Solis, a retired Marine judge advocate, ex-West Point law professor and Vietnam combat veteran, said there “can be no good reason, legal or humanitarian, for exercising clemency in a case like Nisour Square and those who were involved in it.” Solis said Trump “knows nothing about these individuals, or what goes on on the battlefield. We’re talking about a multiple 4F-er,” referencing Trump’s Vietnam draft deferments, “and yet he wants to play the general and the Fox News hero.”
more:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-considers-pardoning-blackwater-mercenary-convicted-of-murder?via=newsletter&source=DDMorning
DO SOMETHING!
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