Blackwater’s Iraq murder and bribery scandals

This video from the USA is called Blackwater Guards Indicted for Role in Nisour Square Massacre; Jeremy Scahill on Democracy Now.

From the New York Times in the USA:

Blackwater Said to Approve Iraqi Payoffs After Shootings

By MARK MAZZETTI and JAMES RISEN

Published: November 10, 2009

WASHINGTON — Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials.

Blackwater approved the cash payments in December 2007, the officials said, as protests over the deadly shootings in Nisour Square stoked long-simmering anger inside Iraq about reckless practices by the security company’s employees. American and Iraqi investigators had already concluded that the shootings were unjustified, top Iraqi officials were calling for Blackwater’s ouster from the country and company officials feared that Blackwater might be refused an operating license it would need to retain its contracts with the State Department and private clients, worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

See also here. And here. And here.