One set of Trump pardons released Tuesday could result in significant fallout overseas. Trump effectively wiped out the convictions of four contractors for the former Blackwater Worldwide security firm in connection with a shooting spree in Baghdad’s Nisour Square that left 17 Iraqis dead and 20 wounded.
One of the former Blackwater contractors granted a full pardon Tuesday by Trump, Nicholas Slatten, was convicted serving a sentence of life in prison. The three others, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty and Paul Slough, were serving terms of between 12 and 15 years in prison.
Iraqi anger over the massacre and the perceived impunity of security contractors led the country to attempt to ban armed private contractors altogether and to demands for the four men and a colleague--collectively known as the Blackwater 5--to be returned to Iraq for trial.
President George W. Bush eventually brokered a deal that promised the contractors would face justice in the U.S. and allowed security contractors to continue operating in Iraq.
Trump could have simply commuted the sentences of the men, but he granted the full pardons, suggesting he viewed their convictions as unjust.
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