Free Republic

The Bush administration has had its scandals _ conflict of interest, incompetence, influence peddling, political vendettas _ but it's never had a sex scandal. Until now. And it's a most unlikely Lothario _ World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A deputy to Paul Wolfowitz told the World Bank chief on Wednesday to resign in the interests of the institution during a meeting of the bank's management, sources who participated in the meeting said. The sources told Reuters that World Bank Managing Director Graeme Wheeler, a bank veteran who was appointed by Wolfowitz as one of his two deputies a year ago, raised the issue at a meeting of the bank's vice presidents. Asked to comment, World Bank spokesman Marwan Muasher said: "I feel it is inappropriate to comment on private meetings."

was wrong to suggest that Paul Wolfowitz was like Robert McNamara. That is disrespectful to McNamara. The better comparison is to Jimmy Swaggart. Let me explain, through the roundabout medium of Norman Podhoretz. Long ago, in the unbelievably frigid days in Washington just before Ronald Reagan was sworn in, by chance I met Podhoretz at a pre-inauguration party. He was then the editor of Commentary magazine and a big, fervent figure in developing what we would come to know as neo-conservatism. Two important allies in this cause were his wife, Midge Decter, and son in law, Elliott Abrams, later of...

The latest "scandal" to hit the Bush administration involves Paul Wolfowitz, deputy defense secretary turned World Bank president. But forget his missteps in handling his girlfriend's departure from the Bank. His biggest mistake has been failing to recognize that the Bank has lost its raison d'etre. That is reason enough to choose new leadership. Bank lending programs have consistently failed; the world is awash in private investment capital. The status quo is no longer sustainable. Wolfowitz was a poor choice from the start. He never was particularly interested in international development. Before signing on as president, he demanded a sufficient...

President Paul Wolfowitz of the World Bank should apologize once more (since multiple apologies are the norm) for succumbing to the petty temptation of favoritism, and step down. His work to arrange a State Department job with unreasonable promotions and raises for his girlfriend, Shaha Riza, an employee of the World Bank when Mr. Wolfowitz took over in 2005, are clearly unethical. Such impropriety is particularly unacceptable in an organization that strives to reduce poverty and promote development through good governance. Mr. Wolfowitz's agenda for the bank is the right one, but he has surrendered his ability to pursue it....

The U.S. government has zero investment in retaining Paul Wolfowitz as president of the World Bank, but millions of poor people rely on the economic health and credibility of the institution. Wolfowitz is an impediment, a liability, who ought to be sacked if he is too dense and proud to quickly step aside. He is in trouble because he lied about getting his girlfriend a promotion and pay raises after she left the World Bank for a job at the State Department when he became president of the international lending organization. Over the weekend, the board of the 185-member World...

We know no spectacle so ridiculous," wrote Macaulay about the vilification of Lord Byron, "as the British public in one of its periodical fits of morality." Change the word "ridiculous" to "contemptible," and the words "British public" to "American press," and you have some sense of the eagerness for prurience, the readiness for slander, and the utter want of fact-checking that have characterized Paul Wolfowitz and Shaha Riza as if they were not only the equivalent of Byron seducing his half-sister, but as if they were financing their shameless lasciviousness out of the public purse and the begging bowls of...

When it comes to media reports of bad conduct by Administration officials and appointees, it is a good idea to Just Say No to the first accounts you read. Chances are the story was cooked up and peddled by political partisans (often one way or another funded by George Soros) or that disgruntled bureaucrats leaked to a lazy, gullible, if not complicit, press. The media conniption fit over Paul Wolfowitz' supposed "conflict of interest" at the World Bank is a prime example. Based over on claims by disgruntled staffers, non-government agencies and some World Bank officials, the Financial Times painted...

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...

WASHINGTON: Pakistan is backing World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz as he fights to save his job with Europe, and some other members of the Bank’s governing body, calling for his resignation and the powerful staff union demanding that he be dismissed in the wake of the scandal involving undue favours he did for his female “domestic partner”. Salman Shah, adviser to the Prime Minister, who is here for the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, was asked at a press briefing at the Pakistan embassy on Sunday afternoon what position Pakistan had taken on the...

ON Sunday, World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz vowed to stay in the job, despite revelations that he ordered a $US60,000 ($72,000) pay increase for his lover before seconding her to the US State Department. Australia's Treasurer Peter Costello, lobbied by Wolfowitz at the annual World Bank meeting last week, observed that we "want to see a good example coming out of the World Bank". -SNIP- Wolfowitz began his World Bank tenure with the arrogance so characteristic of the Bush administration. For instance, he demanded an increase in a salary that already approached $US400,000 so he would earn as much as...

Monday, April 16, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT The World Bank released its files in the case of President Paul Wolfowitz's ethics on Friday, and what a revealing download it is. On the evidence in these 109 pages, it is clearer than ever that this flap is a political hit based on highly selective leaks to a willfully gullible press corps. Mr. Wolfowitz asked the World Bank board to release the documents, after it became possible the 24 executive directors would adjourn early Friday morning without taking any action in the case. This would have allowed Mr. Wolfowitz's anonymous bank enemies...

Ethics: World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz's use of taxpayer cash to pad his girlfriend's salary was improper, even if those who exposed it had political motives for doing so. He ought to have known better. On the surface, it seems reasonable to give Wolfowitz, once a distinguished member of President Bush's team as deputy secretary of defense, a break. He got involved in a minor scandal surrounding the promotion and hefty salary hike of his then-girlfriend, Shaha Ali Riza, who worked at the Bank. For Wolfowitz, it's not been a an easy gig. His reception at the World Bank hasn't...

The World Bank released its files in the case of President Paul Wolfowitz's ethics on Friday, and what a revealing download it is. On the evidence in these 109 pages, it is clearer than ever that this flap is a political hit based on highly selective leaks to a willfully gullible press corps. Mr. Wolfowitz asked the World Bank board to release the documents, after it became possible the 24 executive directors would adjourn early Friday morning without taking any action in the case. This would have allowed Mr. Wolfowitz's anonymous bank enemies to further spin their narrative that he...

The reason Paul Wolfowitz should resign as president of the World Bank has nothing to do with Iraq, or his last job as No. 2 in Donald Rumsfeld’s Pentagon, or even his clashes with the bank’s directors and staff. He should resign because he made clean governance his main cause at the bank and has fallen far short of his own standards. The facts are not in dispute. When Mr. Wolfowitz was appointed he was in a personal relationship with a woman employed there. Since working under Mr. Wolfowitz’s supervision would violate the bank’s conflict-of-interest rules, she was reassigned to...

PAUL WOLFOWITZ'S enemies were undoubtedly out to get him from the moment the man best known as the architect of the Iraq war walked through the door of the World Bank. Just as surely, he has handed them ample cause to demand his resignation as the bank's president. But the real shame in this story is that Wolfowitz's most worthwhile initiative — the World Bank's fight against global corruption — may fall victim to the appearance of corruption in his personal life. On taking the job in 2005 after stepping down as deputy defense secretary, Wolfowitz was obliged to do...

The World Bank has had more weak leaders than any institution of its size and importance deserves. With the notable exceptions of Bob McNamara, fresh from executing the Vietnam war, and Jim Wolfensohn who stepped down two years ago, the former presidents have been notable for their inadequacies. Yet until l'affaire Wolfowitz, there has never been any question about the integrity of those leading the crusade against global poverty.

The World Bank released its files in the case of President Paul Wolfowitz's ethics on Friday, and what a revealing download it is. On the evidence in these 109 pages, it is clearer than ever that this flap is a political hit based on highly selective leaks to a willfully gullible press corps.

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...