President Donald Trump is planning to celebrate Memorial Day by pardoning American soldiers who committed and were found guilty of war crimes, resulting in former Army JAG lawyer Glenn Kirschner ripping him a new one on Twitter Saturday night.
The New York Times reports that Trump is requesting paperwork necessary to issue pardons to soldiers accused or convicted of being war criminals in an effort to use them as props on a holiday honoring those who died fighting for our country the right way.
Kirschner, who served as an Army JAG lawyer and is a former longtime federal prosecutor, expressed his utter disgust for Trump’s plan on Twitter by explaining what it takes to prosecute a soldier for a war crime, even using the conviction of several members of Blackwater during the Iraq War as an example.
1. As a former career prosecutor, including 6 years as an Army JAG, this makes me sick. Please bear with me as this will take a minute: Our military criminal justice system protects the rights of soldiers accused of crimes as well as, if not better then, many civilian systems… https://t.co/dtJMOZ6Elg
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) May 19, 2019
2. It’s rarely an easy decision to prosecute a soldier, particularly for crimes committed during a time of war or otherwise in a hostile environment. But we expect, indeed demand, that our soldiers not commit murder/war crimes/atrocities while in military service…
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) May 19, 2019
3. Indeed, the need to maintain good order & a cohesive fighting force requires that soldiers act in a law abiding way even under the most difficult circumstances. Military commanders & prosecutors often agonize over decisions whether to charge a soldier with a criminal offese…
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) May 19, 2019
4. This is, in part, because we recognize the sacrifices soldiers make for their country, putting their lives on the line to protect our people & our freedoms. But when a decision ultimately is made to court-martial a soldier, the system takes great pains to insure that…
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) May 19, 2019
5. soldiers receive excellent legal representation & fair trials. Enormous time/effort goes into investigations, prosecutions and, in the event of conviction, appeals. I know this first hand, having handled as an Army prosecutor (in both the trial courts & appellate courts)…
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) May 19, 2019
6. cases including murder during Operation Just Cause, espionage during Operation Desert Storm, death penalty litigation & many others. Today I saw this NYT’s article that Trump is ginning up pardons of soldiers who criminally killed others, intending to use it as some sort of…
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) May 19, 2019
7. twisted Memorial Day celebration. Among the pardons reportedly being contemplated are cases involving the Blackwater security firm. Please bear with me for a moment while I relate some basic public facts about the Blackwater case. The defendants were US civilians (veterans)…
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) May 19, 2019
8. who were being paid to perform security services in Iraq. Multiple Blackwater employees opened fire on innocent Iraqis in what was a massacre in broad daylight. They killed 14 unarmed Iraqi citizens and injured 17 others in front of dozens of witnesses…
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) May 19, 2019
9. Some of the testifying witnesses were the defendants own Blackwater teammates. Many of the fellow Blackwater members testified about how the defendants were in the wrong – they did not even attempt to defend their teammates, rather…
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) May 19, 2019
10. they described their teammates’ use of deadly force as being wholly unjustified and without provocation. Evidence at trial included how one defendant, Nicholas Slatten, called Iraqis “animals” and “less then human.” According to Slatten, Iraqi lives were worth “nothing.”…
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) May 19, 2019
11. My former office, the DC US Attorney’s Office, prosecuted the case, obtained convictions & brought justice to the surviving victims & the families of the dead (I didn’t work on the case). I saw the enormous time, energy & resources that went into that prosecution…
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) May 19, 2019
12. It was important that the perpetrators of those horrific offenses were brought to justice. Now Trump, in a twisted, grotesque “celebration” of Memorial Day, wants to pardon these and other murderers?! What message is he really trying to send to the military?
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) May 19, 2019
Scarier still, Kirschner went on to posit that Trump may be trying to curry favor from the military in the hopes that our soldiers will back him in 2020 should he refuse to leave office if he loses to his Democratic opponent.
A cynical view might go something like – Trump is pardoning military members who unlawfully kill in hopes they will side with him in the future if the need arises, like if he refuses to leave office after he’s voted out in 2020. Too cynical?
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) May 19, 2019
Another Twitter user pointed out that Trump’s scheme sends a message that the Geneva Convention doesn’t matter, which means both sides in any war would ignore it and commit war crimes against American civilians and soldiers and vice versa.
More horrendous is that it places our troops in serious jeopardy. If our enemies see that the US President sanctions murder of innocent civilians, troops on both sides are emboldened to violate the Geneva Convention with impunity!
— Paula Washington (@brainboomr22) May 19, 2019
The action Trump plans to take should outrage Americans across the country regardless of party affiliation. War criminals do not deserve pardons for their crimes. Wearing a United States uniform does not exempt anyone from obeying the rule of law. These criminals were tried and convicted and their convictions should stand.
Featured Image: Screenshot