Donald Trump issued a flurry of pardons this week, and among them was the pardon of four former guards for Blackwater. The pardoned individuals were convicted of killing 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including 2 children, in the 2007 Nisoor Square massacre that provoked international outrage. Two women and two boys were among those killed after the men opened fire into the crowded square with automatic weapons, grenades, and a sniper rifle. Iraqi authorities have put the number of dead at 17.
Jaws dropped worldwide as Trump pardoned the men who were convicted of murder, voluntary manslaughter, resulting in decades-long prison sentences.
Erik Dean Prince — the brother of Trump’s Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos — is the founder of the private military company Blackwater USA, now called Academi — previously known as Xe. Let’s just say that the group is filled with unsavory characters that have been charged with arms-smuggling, among other things.
So, Trump’s issue of pardons was a slap in the face to “law and order.” Blackwater survivor Hassan Jaber Salman condemned President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon the men as “unjust” and he had a few other things to say as he described the attack.
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Salman called Trump’s decision shocking, disappointing, and “abusive to the rights of the victims” and said the president will have to face God.
“The American justice system is known to be a fair system, but it turns out that the American justice system is not fair,” he said.
Survivors are feeling traumatized all over again after Trump issued the pardons.
“My message to US President Trump is to not pardon or release the perpetrators, they are terrorists,” Jasim Mohammed Al-Nasrawi, a police officer who was injured in the attack, told CNN on Wednesday.
“I am still not a hundred percent recovered from my head wound, which [was] sustained in the gunfire by Blackwater guards in 2007, and have not been completely compensated for the attack. I will not waive my right to this case, I am not giving up,” he added.
Watch:
On Wednesday, Blackwater survivor Al-Nasrawi said that instead of issuing pardons to the killers, “Trump should look into the victims’ families and wounded and take care of their health.” I’m sorry, but our president doesn’t have the courage to do that.
Featured image via screen capture
