Press TV | Nov. 11, 2009

A report reveals that private US security firm Blackwater had allocated USD1 million to Iraqi officials to buy their support and silence criticisms leveled against the firm after a fatal Baghdad shooting in 2007.

In an interview with The New York Times on Tuesday, four former executives revealed that in December 2007 Blackwater's then-president, Gary Jackson, approved the payment of a one-million-dollar bribe to Iraqi officials in a bid to hush-down condemnations.

The former executives, however, added that they did not know the identity of the Iraqi officials in question, or whether money was actually delivered.

This is while, under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans bribes to foreign officials, any payments would have been illegal.

According to the four officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, Blackwater's strategy created a deep rift inside the company.

Stacy DeLuke, a spokeswoman for company has dismissed the report as 'baseless' and said the company would not comment about former employees.

In September 2007, Blackwater agents opened random fire on pedestrians with machine guns and rocket launchers, killing 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square in an 'unprovoked' attack.

The bloody incident drew worldwide condemnation, prompting the Iraqi government to refuse to extend Blackwater's license. the company later changed its name to Xe Services LLC in an attempt to distance itself from the 2007 incident.

However, despite its controversial records in Iraq during the Bush administration, the shadowy US-based paramilitary security company has continued its ongoing relationship with Washington under President Barack Obama.