As Blackwater's (now Xe) reputation deteriorates, US Government contracts aren't slowing in pace.  It turns out that after the September 2007 incident in which Blackwater mercenaries slaughtered 17 Iraqi civilians, Blackwater executives quickly turned to bribery in order to quell the calls to oust Blackwater from Iraq.

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.

Source: www.nytimes.com

While corruption is nothing new to government contracts, especially when dealing with Iraq, this is just one more reason why the Blackwater mercenary movement needs to go.  It is truly surprising that after all of this, Blackwater is still the primary mercenary contractor in Iraq.  I am sure there isn't a long line of other mercenary groups, but it seems that you can't possibly find a worse team than Blackwater.