http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070517/pl_nm/worldbank_wolfowitz_dc

Quote :

""Mr. Wolfowitz will not resign under this cloud and he will rather put this matter to a full (board) vote than to capitulate on his integrity," his lawyer Robert Bennett (news, bio, voting record) told Reuters on Wednesday."

Is this guy joking? I'm sure some of the euros are just piling on because they don't like the guy, but there's no doubt about Wolfowitz's lack of integrity. I can think of few professional organizations where it's OK to get involved with an underling and to arrange special favors for them.

5/17/2007 2:08:54 AM

i hope that oppressor dies.

5/17/2007 2:10:20 AM

he is someone i consider one of "the good ol boys"

i hope more like him go down in the next decade

5/17/2007 2:11:54 AM

The guy is the quintessential academic faker. He's been proven wrong over and over throughout his career, he flip flops and comes up with ridiculous excuses when called out, and his ideas have little basis in reality, yet he finds the ears of powerful people who keep him around.

[Edited on May 17, 2007 at 2:38 AM. Reason : Integrity is the last adjective any sane person would apply to wolfowitz.]

5/17/2007 2:35:04 AM

sounds like rush limbaugh

5/17/2007 3:02:40 AM

limbaugh is 1000x dumber


which is kind of scary

5/17/2007 3:44:59 AM

whattayaexpect, he's a jew

5/17/2007 10:07:40 AM

Interesting Op-Ed piece printed in the LA Times:

Quote :

"The Wolfowitz non-story Why the World Bank chief and his girlfriend are victims of scandal peddlers, not their own judgment. By Ruth Wedgwood, RUTH WEDGWOOD is professor of international law and diplomacy at Johns Hopkins University's School for Advanced International Studies. April 17, 2007 ON TAKING office, World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz set two priorities for the world's premier development institution. He asked for a focus on Africa's persistent poverty, and he targeted corruption that diverts aid dollars from the poor. African leaders endorsed this vision, but not all bank bureaucrats were thrilled by Wolfowitz or his policies. Still, any friend of the bank's work should be dismayed by the disruption caused by a manufactured scandal at a time when the bank needs to replenish its coffers. The imbroglio rattling the World Bank during its spring meeting of finance ministers is a rehash of its clumsy attempt to resolve the status of Shaha Ali Riza, a veteran bank professional and Wolfowitz's longtime romantic partner. The authors of this acrid affair have nakedly forgotten the standards of fairness and due process owed Riza, who is a member of the bank staff association and entitled to its fiduciary protections. And the scandal-mongers have recklessly ignored a written record of bank documents that serves not to condemn but to exculpate Wolfowitz. Moreover, the case reveals the bank's executive board and its ethics committee as organs of haphazard judgment. In 2005, the ethics committee surprisingly denied Wolfowitz's written request that he be allowed to recuse himself from all decisions touching on Riza's status because of their relationship. Then it disqualified her from remaining at the bank yet insisted that she be compensated for this disruption to her career. Next, it insisted that Wolfowitz re-enter the chain of command to execute its advice concerning Riza. And now, board members apparently have criticized Wolfowitz for doing exactly what the ethics panel directed. To be sure, news stories about Riza have revealed that the pay of World Bank staff far exceed what comparable professionals would earn elsewhere. The public may rightly be dismayed to learn that Riza and other World Bank "lead" professionals can earn from $132,000 to $232,000 — in some cases more than U.S. Cabinet secretaries. And because the bank is an international institution, staffers who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents are not taxed by Washington. A foreign bank employee with a salary of $132,000 can support the same lifestyle as someone with a taxable gross income of more than $200,000. This should be changed. But this does not excuse a mob mentality that abuses the reputation of a particular female professional, much less a bank president. The internal documents released last week — at Wolfowitz's request — show that this slow-moving institution had no protocol for figuring out how to accommodate the career of a professional woman when her spouse or partner came to work in the same chain of command. This is becoming a more serious problem in today's workplace. Riza was a veteran of the bank, working as a senior communications officer in the Middle East/North African public outreach program before Wolfowitz was picked as bank president in 2005. With more than 15 years' experience in the field, able to speak Arabic, English and French, she was short-listed for a senior-level job. The bank's ethics committee in July 2005 gave "informal" advice that Riza had to give up her eligibility for promotion and leave the bank. It acknowledged that this step would disrupt Riza's career for a substantial period. For a 52-year-old bank employee facing mandatory retirement at age 62, losing a promotion and a long period of service is not trivial. The ethics committee thus reasonably concluded that Riza should receive some compensation for her forced transfer. According to the documents on the bank's website, it was the ethics committee's own idea — not Wolfowitz's — to give Riza a promotion as she was being moved out for four years. She was transferred to the State Department to work on a grass-roots democracy project that has been praised by Secretary Condoleezza Rice. She was given the mid-range salary for her new level. This was a lot of money, but it was based on the bank's existing pay scales. It was certainly not a corrupt favor to a girlfriend. The most amazing thing is that all the facts were reviewed for a second time by the World Bank ethics committee last year, and again it found nothing wrong. The chairman of the ethics committee pronounced in a Feb. 28, 2006, letter that "the ethics committee decided that the allegations … do not appear to pose ethical issues." It is hard to square the record with the entertaining claim that the World Bank's president somehow concocted a do-nothing job for his girlfriend. It's a bum rap, and one that women professionals in dual-career families might worry about. "

5/17/2007 12:02:02 PM

Simply amazing. Well, I gotta give the "the liberal media is biased" guys a point on this one. Something I don't get is why if the liberal media is biased left, and FNC and other networks are biased right, why the ones that should be in the Wolf camp didn't come to his rescue sooner.

I was ready to chalk this guy up as another Bush crony that needs canned (though, that opinion was based partially on this incident AND his Iraq war crap), but it seems like he was perfectly legit in everything he did regarding Riza.

5/17/2007 12:14:39 PM

To be fair, Ruth Wedgewood is a neocon lawyer, and this op-ed piece was written before the ethics panel came out with their report blaming Wolfowitz in large part for the scandal.

But I don't like the mob mentality that accompanies every Republican scandal, real or perceived. If you look at what Wolfowitz actually did while head of the World Bank, he tried very hard to combat poverty and promote change from within. He wasn't like Michael Bolton giving everyone who disagreed with him a big "Fuck you".

[Edited on May 17, 2007 at 12:34 PM. Reason : 2]

5/17/2007 12:31:21 PM

don't you mean John Bolton?

5/17/2007 1:05:41 PM

yes I do

5/17/2007 1:07:45 PM

this scandal's a joke.

5/17/2007 1:18:23 PM

look. you dont have the boss directly supervising and/or negotiating raises for his fuck-bunnies.

every goddamned company in the western world knows this.

5/17/2007 2:22:18 PM

Wolfowitz is officially resigned.

effective at the end of next month.

of course the rest of the world knows he was forced out.

with the White House as his only supporter. talk about world-class douchebags.






[Edited on May 17, 2007 at 7:10 PM. Reason : ]

5/17/2007 7:07:42 PM

Quote :

"But I don't like the mob mentality that accompanies every Republican scandal, real or perceived. If you look at what Wolfowitz actually did while head of the World Bank, he tried very hard to combat poverty and promote change from within. He wasn't like MichaelJohn Bolton giving everyone who disagreed with him a big "Fuck you". "

Ok. He used his role as president to improve the life of someone he was trying to fuck. You point to what his offical goals were while in office and then move to say "well, at least hes not this other crony."



If you people could hear yourselves talk. Someone get me some sand so I can stick my head in too.

[Edited on May 18, 2007 at 2:09 AM. Reason : /]

5/18/2007 2:03:03 AM

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this raise for her (and whatever else) was approved by the board. So whats the big deal?

5/18/2007 1:36:52 PM