Blackwater offered bribes, still in Iraq

Blackwater top executives offered bribes to Iraqi officials to reduce criticism of shootings in 2007 in which Blackwater killed 17 Iraqis.


And US government officials were aware of those plans of bribery: A senior State Department official said that American diplomats were not aware of any payoffs to Iraqi officials. Ms. Butenis, now the United States ambassador to Sri Lanka, declined to comment for this article. But other State Department officials confirmed that embassy officials had met with Blackwater executives to encourage them to compensate the victims of Nisour Square.

The State Department replaced Blackwater with a rival company in May, but Blackwater still does some work for the department in Iraq on a temporary basis.