Free Republic

WASHINGTON, April 16 — The Defense Department directed a private contractor in 2003 to hire Shaha Ali Riza, a World Bank employee and the companion of Paul D. Wolfowitz, then the deputy secretary of defense, to spend a month studying issues related to setting up a new government in Iraq, the contractor said Monday. The contractor, Science Applications International Corporation, or SAIC, said that it had been directed to hire Ms. Riza by the office of the under secretary for policy. The head of that office at the time was Douglas J. Feith, who reported to Mr. Wolfowitz. After her...

Paul Wolfowitz was fighting a rearguard action to save his career as president of the World Bank on Sunday as he received support from the White House and African ministers while divisions emerged among European countries over his future. A senior European official told the Financial Times that unless the White House withdrew its support, European countries were not sufficiently united to succeed in an immediate attempt to force Mr Wolfowitz’s removal. But continuing criticism over Mr Wolfowitz’s personal involvement in securing a big pay hike for a Bank official with whom he was romantically involved, might undermine his long-term...

Battling to hold on to his job, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said misleading information has been circulating over his involvement in a huge pay increase awarded to a close female friend. “I feel, however, that this has left a vacuum, which has largely been filled by misleading information” and conceded the 109 pages of documents about the controversy released by the board are “a lot to wade through for significant facts so I would like to call your attention to a number of them." Wolfowitz included a link to the package of documents, as did a posting on the...

It is ironic that Paul Wolfowitz, the president of the World Bank, has found himself under pressure, with his job on the line, for an apparent case of nepotism involving his girlfriend. Some, of course, will insist that Mr. Wolfowitz's behaviour was corrupt and that he should be fired. Whatever decision the World Bank board eventually takes against him, perhaps this weekend, his reputation will have suffered. And if he stays, it will be from a weakened position that he will be able to lecture countries and their leaders, especially in the Third World, against corruption. -SNIP- There is a...