Oh! What A Tangled Web We Weave...

I thought it might be nice to look in on Poor Paul Wolfowitz. Poor Paul was under fire for arranging for the World Bank to pay his girl friend Shaha Riza ,$200,000 to work at the U.S. State Department, on loan from her job in the Communications section at the World Bank. Well. Things have gotten worse. Kevin Kellems, one of the two top aides Wolfowitz brought over with him from the Pentagon, has resigned. The other, Robin Cleveland, it appears, was up to no good. She, of course, has not resigned.

Marwan Muasher was the former Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan. He had only been on his new job at the World Bank for about two weeks. New guy. In charge of External Affairs. Back in early April, Robin drafted a statement for him, so he in turn could conduct a background briefing with senior bank officials around Mr. Wolfowitz's "Shaha problem."

According to the Financial Times, the statement claimed in part that, "...after consultation with the General Counsel, the Ethics Committee of the Board of Directors approved an external assignment agreement with the staff member." Except that now the chairman of the Ethics committee has also issued a statement in rebuttal: disputing the claim that any agreement was ever approved by the Ethics committee and there was no consulting the General Counsel.
It gets worse. In a classified document obtained by the Financial Times, Wolfowitz told Pentagon investigators he "enlisted the help of a World Bank employee with whom he had a personal relationship, in activities supporting the Iraq war" when he was Deputy Secretary of Defense.

Apparently, in 2003, Shaha Riza entered into a contract with a company that provides "logistics, intelligence, and advice(!) to the Pentagon." E-mails indicate this was done at Wolfowitz's request. At the time, Shaha Riza was an employee of the World Bank and Paul Wolfowitz was Deputy Secretary of Defense. Of course, there were others who recommended that Ms. Riza get that contract. One of them, Elizabeth Cheney, the daughter of the Vice President...worked at the State Department at the time. (This is the other daughter.) There are those who believe that this, too, was a definite conflict of interest and a huge violation of the World Bank's rules.

The embattled Wolfowitz, graceless and arrogant to the end, is calling this entire mess an attempt to smear him. He was given additional time, until the close of business, Friday, May 11th, to defend himself and submit "final comments" in writing to the World Bank panel investigating this tawdry mess. On Monday, his comments along with the findings of the investigating panel, will go before the Board of Directors. Wolfowitz can also meet with them in person on Tuesday. It is fervently hoped the matter will be decided then.

Of course, we all know what's really going on this weekend. Votes are being counted on the 24 member board to see which countries will support the United States, and which countries will not.
According to various reports by the Financial Times and the wire services like AP and Reuters, the European nations, led by Germany, are generally against keeping Wolfowitz as president. Canada and Japan are expected to support the United States.

India, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and South Korea want him out and no one knows where Mexico and China will come down. If Wolfowitz has the votes, he stays and the controversy continues, tarnishing the bank's reputation and making it more difficult to maintain the financial support of member nations.



If he loses, there is speculation that World Bank leaders have already assured the U.S. that this White House could pick the next World Bank president...meanwhile.... Condoleeza Rice has expressed her "personal high regard" for Paul Wolfowitz, as she makes phone calls to European ministers. But, she claims, she is also aware of, and deeply respects the fact that a "World Bank administrative process is underway..." Hmmmm. Has the World Bank ever had a woman president?

Copyright, 2007