'It's turned crazy': Inside the scramble for Trump pardons

Back to my initial post, I think that the fact that no one was held criminally accountable for the Kunduz incident, or the Yemen Wedding Massacre where 131 people were killed in a drone strike does in fact in some way justify Trump's pardon for these young veterans placed into a tight spot on the ground having been tasked with "securing" an intersection only 300 yards from the Iraq National Police Headquarters.

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The case is not so clear cut as you might imagine. Their team apparently received AK47 fire during the event and apparently there was a guy driving a KIA that was suspected of being a car bomber. I believe it was the driver of this vehicle that Slatten was convicted of murdering. And not just murder, but 1st degree murder, which requires that he had planned it! A charge that the prosecution upgraded from its initial charge of manslaughter due to a statue of limitations constraint.

Here is a blog that gives a clearly biased account of the initial event, among a lot of other additional info on other of its pages.

http://www.supportraven23.com/incident

This account is far from complete and appears to go a bit off the rails, maybe, maybe not.

For example it offers some conjecture that these 15 guys came under fire from Iraqi police that weren't actually Iraqi police, or tries to assert that it is of equal relevance that counterfeit police uniforms were so common that they couldn't trust that they were not being fired upon by insurgents dressed as Iraqi police.

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I think generally the fact that pointing out that a recipient of a pardon has been convicted by the courts is maybe a little redundant. Aside from when it's done preemptively: having been convicted by the courts is a prerequisite to receiving a pardon, isn't it? These four guys were convicted, yes, after a having had the first case dismissed. The prosecution was finally successful in getting a conviction on Nick Slatten only after its third attempt in court.

 

Trump by far pardons people who lied for him under oath / refused to testify against him, and a bunch of baby killers.
That sets him apart and makes him the biggest swamp the US government had in decades.

 

Presidential pardons do no require an explanation. I am pretty certain that Trump knows more about the case than you or I do?

 

Yet people are in prison for growing a plant.

 

And I am pretty certain that money crossed trump's palm or it wouldn't have happened. trump has never done anything for nothing.

 

The end result remains the same: all four have been sentenced by the American justice system to at least 30 years in prison.

This is no small feat.

And this story has brought to light the problem for a state to use private militias in war zones.

I would have morally accepted a reduced sentence. But a pardon? never.

Moreover, this pardon smells of corruption because the founder of Blackwater is the brother of Lindsey DeVos...

Whether the cause is just or not is of no importance to Trump. He uses his pardon only for personal or political purposes.

 

It was a good pardon. The contractors thought they were under attack and and they were in fact, fired upon. Good call by Trump. Our Military is overly concerned with appeasing foreign governments and the original dismissal of charges should have stood.

 

That is an opinion I don't share.

 

I'm not challenging that, but have you got a supporting link? I'd be interested to read more

 

I don't think so

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ractors-jailed-for-massacre-of-iraq-civilians

You're perhaps thinking of the one Julian Assange has lost his life for reporting. That one was US servicemen who told their superiors that the crowd had guns in order to get permission to slaughter them and also like the above some kids. That was the one where they killed a western journalist and their cameraman. I did not think they have even faced a trial they just want to kill Assange for daring to tell..

 

Can you imagine the LW outrage that happened when Bill Clinton did? Nope there was none.

 

They're murdering scum and were pardoned by a scumbag. Outfits like Blackwater and their wannabe soldiers are accountable to no-one, unlike our military and servicemen. Even they don't get it right all the time, but at least there are standards that they live by. Mercs have no honor.

 

Aaaaah right wing whataboutism, the last vestige of the losers.

 

Has the loser trump published a price sheet for a pardon yet?
Or do you just "donate" as much as you can and hope it's enough?

 

Bottom line: the Trump supporters here, who voted for their Criminal con-man and claimed he was going to drain the swamp are now revealed as even more
slimy, corrupt and vile creatures than ever existed in the DC swamp.

They just endorsed pardons for convicted felons who aided their chief Con in the White House in his criminal acts and cover up. The perfect circle of corruption.

Congratulations, swamp creatures, now that you have set the precedent, you have ushered in a new era and a new level of debased self-perpetuating corruption.

 

Trump supporters are defending these murders:


Video clip provided by the murderers

 

The public knows what a massacre is. Trump knows too, which makes this even more troubling.

The pardons continue. He is putting all his criminal buddies back in the game.

 

Draftees generally don't always make the best soldiers - a lesson learned in Vietnam.

 

Contractors are for many reasons. Companies hire them. To fill in shortfalls. While per month contractors cost more, but MUCH less in the long run because they don't get v verterans benefits. Many contractors are no combat related much such as food services etc. And some of it likely is for graft too.

 

Blackwater doesn't have the best of reputations.

 

The case apparently at one point included 6 guys, then 5, and then 4, and then the 4th guy had to be retried separately and as of the date of the pardon, 3 guys were already free having had their sentences reduced to time served due to a successful appeal.

The op was clearly a major f up. These guys lit it up 300 yards from the offices of the freaking Iraqi National Police headquarters and the number civilian dead and wounded were egregious. But these guys didn't plan the op and they apparently didn't even have the clout to even question the wisdom of attempting to secure that particular intersection without having coordinated the op with the Iraqi police. Their entire professional experience that got them hired by Blackwater consisted of their enlisted service, 3 of them combat vets from Iraq and/or Afghanistan. Given my personal experience at the end of 4 years active service in the US Army at the ripe old age of 23, I knew quite a bit less than I thought I did at that point in my life. These guys were basically still troops, with better pay and rotation options.

Nevertheless, they should have known the area. They should have know the terrain and they damn well should have known that they were attempting to secure turf owned by the Iraqi National Police at that particular intersection.

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I like it. I think you meant to type Betsy instead of Lindsey, but if we can make it a trend then I'm on board. Lindsey DeVos and Betsy Graham?

Erik Prince of course wasn't charged with anything....

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No doubt Trump made this pardon based on his personal and political purposes, this just happens to be one that fits into a long held beef of mine on my Venn diagram of US military policies that I have issues with.

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Some handy links for further reading.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisour_Square_massacre

https://www.celebritynetworth.com/a...und-baby-built-worlds-deadliest-private-army/

 

Wikipedia ?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisour_Square_massacre

 

Of course the Blackwater guys claimed to have been fired at first, what else would they claim?
An FBI investigation concluded that of the 17 civilians killed at least 14 were shot without a cause. The state depatment said "innocent life was lost" and there is a reason why a US court sentenced them to life/30 years in prison and that certainly wasn't self-defense.
Imagine this the other way around, four heavily armed Iraqi commandos killing 17 'merican civilians on American soil and then the perpetrators get pardoned.

 

I fail to see how Blackwater employees are criminal buddies but I did read up on the case and I tend to think the Blackwater people were justified in responding to the incoming fire. Tragic to be sure but the onus is on the terrorists. While some of the pardons are head scratchers for me this one isn't.