Win Without War Advocacy Director Erica Fein released the following statement regarding President Trump’s pardon of four Blackwater guards convicted for murdering Iraqi civilians:
“On September 16, 2007, private military contractors employed by the firm Blackwater intentionally massacred 17 Iraqis in cold blood, and injured many more. Today, Donald Trump pardoned these convicted murderers.
“This egregious abuse of executive power is a chilling attack on justice in service of the protection of one of the wealthiest and most powerful private military companies in existence. While Blackwater may have since rebranded to Academi, we will not forget the terrible crimes it is responsible for, especially as it and its founder Erik Prince lobby for the further privatization of the U.S. military.
“Shamefully, this pardon is not altogether new. Those Americans responsible for mass suffering abroad have long evaded accountability for their actions – from on-the-ground war criminals like Eddie Gallagher, whom Trump pardoned last year, to the policymakers who recklessly decide to invade and destroy an entire country, to the officials who sell arms to dictators knowing they will be used to slaughter civilians abroad. With today’s pardon, Trump once again sent a signal to the world that while the United States government supposedly champions human rights, when it comes to taking responsibility for its own actions, it will happily excuse even the most heinous crimes.”
Win Without War is a diverse network of activists and national organizations working for progressive foreign policy in the United States.
Is it easier to make something out of nothing or nothing out of something ? My guess is the latter, anyway everything that is was created by the one we say we believe in, he spoke the whole universe into existence. Through his only begotten son we have been informed as to how to exist comfortably and peacefully but some how we have rejected his teaching, we have put our faith in our weapons of war. Until we learn to trust in and believe in God, I’m afraid history will only repeat itself and the innocent will continue to be slaughtered.
The innocent are not being slaughtered because of Atheism, they are being slaughtered because of NATO foreign policy and Israeli domestic and foreign policy. Many Jews especially Ultra-Orthodox Jews say Israel including the Occupied Territories are the lands God promised to them in the Bible.
After the Gulf War ended and before the Iraq War began, the US & UK bombed Iraq from the No-Fly Zones. The sanctions against Iraq led to starvation of the people there , the UN’s Oil For Food Program restricted the amount of oil Iraq could sell and food it could buy.
“Only the dead have seen the end of the war.” George Santayana
I`m hoping Trump may use the release of these war criminals as a cover to pardon assange / Snowdon , but i could be wrong.
I regard formal ‘pardons’ as relevant only to those who have been actually convicted of some genuine crime These conditions do not apply to either Assange or Snowden, neither of whom have been convicted or were guilty of any real ‘crime’. What is required is that the punitive threats and attacks against them be stopped because such actions are unwarranted, inexcusable and unjust. I also have no faith or expectation of any ‘pardon’ for these men from Trump because; being neither murderous war criminals or political cronies, they do not meet the clear criteria that he uses for the dispensation of his official mercy and forgiveness.
Is this as bad as sanctuary cities shielding illegal alien murderers/criminals from the authorities
According to the US Constitution, there’s no such thing as an “illegal alien.”
And even if there was, that still doesn’t make it the job of city governments to enforce federal law, or to hold prisoners on demand from ICE without warrants or judicial orders.