Trump Pardons 4 US Mercenaries Convicted of 2007 Iraq Massacre

DONALD TRUMP has pardoned four US Mercenaries convicted for the 2007 Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad in which 17 Iraqi civilians lost their lives.

The hugely controversial event sparked international controversy on the role of privately contracted mercenaries during the US occupation of Iraq following the shocking massacre. All four mercenaries were employees of Blackwater, a murky private military company that was forced to rebrand itself as Academi in the wake of the scandal.

The mercenaries were serving lengthy prison sentences following a 2014 federal court conviction in Washington DC over the massacre. Prosecutors say that the Blackwater convoy indiscriminately attacked the crowd of civilians with machine gun and sniper fire as well as grenades, killing 17 people and wounding 20 others.

Defense lawyers say that the mercenaries were retaliating against an ambush, with one member of the men’s’ legal team saying that they “didn’t deserve to spend one minute in prison”. One of the accused told the court he felt “utterly betrayed by the same government I served honourably”.

On Tuesday, Donald Trump used his last final days as President to pardon the four men. In November the President also pardoned two other US servicemen serving sentences for alleged civilian murders in Afghanistan.

Thank you for taking the time to read this news article “Trump Pardons 4 US Mercenaries Convicted of 2007 Iraq Massacre”. For more UK daily news, Spanish daily news and Global news stories, visit the Euro Weekly News home page.