Trump pardons spark outrage

WASHINGTON: An angry backlash on Wednesday met US President Donald Trump’s pardons of corrupt Republican congressmen and security guards convicted of killing 14 civilians in a 2007 Baghdad massacre. Following the pattern of earlier announcements, Trump extended executive clemency on Tuesday to people who showed strong political support for him, and former soldiers and law enforcement officials convicted of murder in on-the-job shootings. Iraqis expressed outrage and sadness after Trump delivered pardons for the four Blackwater security contractors who were convicted of murder and manslaughter six years ago for the Nisur Square massacre. The four, all former US servicemen, opened fire unprovoked on the crowded square in 2007, leaving at least 14 civilians dead — though Iraqi authorities put the toll as high as 17 — while wounding dozens more and deeply souring US-Iraqi relations. Previous administrations were loath to intervene in the legal case. But the now-defunct Blackwater’s owner was Erik Prince, a close Trump supporter and brother of Trump’s secretary of education, Betsy DeVos. ‘UTTER OUTRAGE’ “I knew we’d never get justice,” Fares Saadi, the Iraqi police officer who led the investigations, said. A former classmate of a medical student killed at Nisur 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, on grounds of anonymity. Retired US general Mark Hertling, who served in Iraq, called the Blackwater pardon “egregious and disgusting.” “This was a craven war crime that resulted in the death of 17 Iraqi civilians.”— AFP