Tuesday, December 22, 2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Dec. 23, 2020

 2 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)


The Nisour Square Massacre occurred on September 16, 2007, when employees of Blackwater Security Consulting (now Academi), a private military company contracted by the US government to provide security services in Iraq, shot at Iraqi civilians, killing 17 and injuring 20 in Nisour Square, Baghdad, while escorting a U.S. embassy convoy.[1][2][3] The killings outraged Iraqis and strained relations between Iraq and the United States.[4] In 2014, four Blackwater employees were tried[5] and convicted in U.S. federal court; one of murder, and the other three of manslaughter and firearms charges.[6]

Blackwater guards claimed that the convoy was ambushed and that they fired at the attackers in defense of the convoy. The Iraqi government and Iraqi police investigator Faris Saadi Abdul stated that the killings were unprovoked.[7][8] The next day, Blackwater Worldwide's license to operate in Iraq was temporarily revoked.[9] The U.S. State Department has said that "innocent life was lost",[10] and according to The Washington Post, a military report appeared to corroborate "the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault".[11] The Iraqi government vowed to punish Blackwater.[12] The incident sparked at least five investigations, including one from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[13] The FBI investigation found that, of the 17 Iraqis killed by the guards, at least 14 were shot without cause.[14]

Source From Wikipedia
A burnt car at the site where Blackwater guards opened fire on a crowd in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2007. Donald Trump has pardoned the four contractors jailed over the killing of 14 civilians.
Trump pardons Blackwater contractors jailed for massacre of Iraq civilians

Four guards fired on unarmed crowd in Baghdad in 2007, killing 14 and sparking outrage over use of private security in war zones

Dec. 23 - President Donald Trump has pardoned four Blackwater security guards who were given lengthy prison sentences for killing 14 civilians in Baghdad in 2007, a massacre that caused international uproar over the use of private contractors in war zones.

The four – Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, Dustin Heard and Nicholas Slatten – were part of an armoured convoy that opened fire indiscriminately with machine-guns and grenade launchers on a crowd of unarmed people in the Iraqi capital. Known as the Nisour Square massacre, the slaughter was seen as a low point in the conflict in Iraq.     continue to read

Trump announces wave of pardons, including Papadopoulos and former lawmakers Hunter and Collins

Dec. 23 - (CNN)President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a wave of lame duck pardons, including two for men who pleaded guilty in Robert Mueller's investigation, as well as ones for Republican allies who once served in Congress and military contractors involved in a deadly shooting of Iraqi civilians.

The pardons of former campaign aide George Papadopoulos, former US congressmen Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins, and the four Blackwater guards involved in the Iraq massacre kick off what is expected to be a flurry of pardons and commutations in the coming weeks as Trump concludes his term.     continue to read




Ex-Blackwater contractors convicted
Jury: Ex-Blackwater contractors guilty in 'outrageous' Nusoor Square shooting

Date Published on Oct. 23, 2014
CNN)After marathon deliberations, a federal jury found four ex-Blackwater Worldwide contractors guilty Wednesday in a deadly 2007 mass shooting in Baghdad's Nusoor Square.

Nicholas Slatten, 30, of Sparta, Tennessee, the team's sniper, was found guilty of first-degree murder while armed in the slaying of the river of a white Kia sedan in the Baghdad traffic circle. Prosecutors said Slatten

..."Seven years ago, these Blackwater contractors unleashed powerful sniper fire, machine guns and grenade launchers on innocent men, women and children. Today, they were held accountable for that outrageous attack and its devastating consequences for so many Iraqi families."   more details




GOP lawmaker to resign amid plans to plead guilty
Former Rep. Chris Collins, the first member of Congress to endorse Trump, sentenced to 26 months in prison in insider trading case

Date Published on January 18, 2020
(CNN)The first sitting congressman to support President Donald Trump's bid for the White House was sentenced to 26 months in prison on Friday after pleading guilty to federal charges in an insider trading case.

Former New York Rep. Chris Collins' sentence from Judge Vernon Broderick in a New York federal court comes after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and making false statements in October. Federal prosecutors on Monday recommended that Collins be sentenced to nearly five years in prison.


"You had a duty and you betrayed that duty," Broderick said, additionally slapping Collins with a $200,000 fine and a year of supervised probation upon his release.Collins, 69, admitted to sharing non-public information with his son about a failed drug trial they were investing in. He emotionally addressed the court, saying in part "now I stand here today as a disgraced former member of Congress."     continue to read

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