WASHINGTON, Dec 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Outgoing U.S. President, Donald Trump, on Tuesday, pardoned four men, convicted in connection with a massacre of civilians in Iraq, in 2007.
The Blackwater guards Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard, opened fire in a busy section of Baghdad, resulting in the unjustified deaths of 14 civilians, including two children.
The youngest victim was a 9-year-old boy named Ali Mohammed Hafedh Abdul Razzaq.
Blackwater Worldwide, the security firm, which now exists under another name, was contracted by the State Department to provide protection for diplomats in Iraq. The company was founded by Erik Prince, the brother of Trump’s education secretary.
Slatten, Slough, Liberty, and Heard were involved in the tragedy, known as the Nisour Square massacre. They were part of an armoured convoy that opened fire in a crowded area of Baghdad on Sept 16, 2007, using machine guns, sniper fire, and grenade launchers against civilians.
A top Democratic senator decried the pardons as a “disgrace,” and an Iraqi man, who was shot in the incident questioned, why he bothered testifying against the men.– NNN-AGENCIES
