Roger L. Simon: The Wolfowitz at my door

Last week I had a lot of bad things to say about Paul Wolfowitz. Now I am not so sure. Evidently World Bank officials are cool to requests by W's new attorney Robert Bennett to lay out the case for the embattled bank president. I don't have any inside information on this, but I am becoming increasingly suspicious that the real issue here is not Wolfowitz's behavior toward his girl friend, but far bigger fish - the Iraq War and, yet more importantly, Wolfowitz's professed struggle against corruption among recipients of World Bank aid. This seems to me a genuinely good (and necessary) fight against a group of highly-entrenched (and often self-deceiving) adversaries. Was Wolfowitz fighting it well? I have no idea. But I would imagine it's not easy. Indeed, this latest refusal even to hear his defense is an indication of just how hard it is.

Comments

Comments require registration through TypeKey. Abusive remarks may be deleted. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of Roger Simon.

"Wall Street Journal's Bret Stephens points to the apparent double standard employed by the European political elite in the Wolfowitz-Riza case:

A Tale of Two Scandals
"Full confidence" for an EU official despite a romp on a nude beach with an employee.
BY BRET STEPHENS Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Imagine that a top civil servant at a major multinational institution arranges a job for a fortysomething female colleague that comes with a $45,000 raise and brings her yearly salary to about $190,000, tax free. Now imagine that the couple has been photographed at a nudist beach--him wearing nothing but a baseball cap.

The latest sordid twist in l'affaire Wolfowitz? Not at all. This is the story of Günter Verheugen, first vice president of the European Commission in Brussels. In its contrasts and similarities with the "scandal" now absorbing the World Bank and its president, it offers timely instruction on the nature and power of modern bureaucracies.

In April, Mr. Verheugen, a former German parliamentarian for the Social Democrats, appointed economist Petra Erler as his chief of staff. In August, the couple was spotted au naturel on a Baltic shore. Mr. Verheugen--who also has a wife--has dismissed allegations of impropriety as "pure slander" and asked the German newsweekly Der Spiegel whether "two adults [can't] do as they wish in their private lives?"

In fact, they can't: The EU Commission's Code of Conduct, which he helped draft, observes that "in their official and private lives Commissioners should behave in a manner that is in keeping with the dignity of their office. Ruling out all risks of a conflict of interest helps guarantee their independence."

Don't think, however, that the commissioner is out on his ear: German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier defends him as "an irreplaceable Brussels heavyweight," while Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso says Mr. Verheugen has his "full confidence." That's more support than Mr. Wolfowitz will ever get from his European friends, who are clucking noisily about the need for the World Bank to preserve its "credibility" and for its president to be "beyond reproach." (It's also more than he's getting from the Bush administration, which is offering token words of support while quietly shopping former Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani as a potential successor.)

Heidi Wieczorek-Zeul, Germany's left-wing minister for economic cooperation and development, has been on the forefront of calls for the resignation of Paul Wolfowitz. It is interesting to note Wieczorek-Zeul's behavior in the Verheugen-Erler case. Not only did she not call for Verheugen's resignation - on the contrary, in her role as deputy chairwoman of Germany's social democratic party (SPD) she actively supported Verheugen, as this report proves ("SPD Leadership Supports Verheugen").

Can we please have a listing of articles in the German media exposing Wieczorek-Zeul's double standard? Or that of other German politicians? Google News Germany is rather mum on the subject."

The Wolfowitz story is looking more and more like a lynching of a neo-con by the "European elite".

If these people do not make an effort to deal with the corruption in organizations like the World Bank and the UN the American people might eventually get to the place where they just don't want to support them anymore. I think that if the US leaves Iraq there might well follow a desire to leave other things as well. People are tired of the ingrates.

I am glad more are coming around to see Wolfowitz as the victim he is. It seems there are so many of these fine gentleman who are abused over their support for the war and past political battles with the left. Wolfowitz, much like Bolton deserves our praise and thanks.

Last I had read they new all about this ahead of time and approved of it. He has had this "friend" for over 6 years and I would think they were aware of it. It was not some office romance like Bills.

Im hearing its due to him holding some of these "members" feet to the fire on performing and doing what they say they are going to do.

Plus he has been getting results, which likely wont go over well in some of the despotic countries. They dont like the populace to have a life other than what they can control.

It's too bad that people do not investigate the facts before they make judgements. We have a tendency to believe the sound bite headlines, which are often not true. The MSM counts on the laziness of its audience. (I actually think Dan Rather thought he could get away unchallenged with his forged documents. Remember, he later said the charge was true even if the documents were false - the best of investigative reporting.)

Terrye, I am all for throwing the UN out of New York. The real estate could be put to better use.

You can't say anything bad about a member nation so all you can do is reinforce the status quo, no matter how terrible. The UN was supposed to be a place where the diplomatic isolation of a wayward country would help bring it back into the fold without war. Darfur anyone?

It's now the ultimate in poltical correctness - which illustrates what a PC world will get you.

As a counterpoint, over at Marginal Revolution, IIRC, is a post w/back up as to why Wolfie should go.

After the Oil for Food fiasco, I have this gut feeling that all of these organizations have serious corruption issues. It's just too easy - approve the loan to The Most Glorious Tinhorn, President for Life of Kerblotzia and receive a nice thank-you note bearing the numbers for the Cayman Island account you wanted.

Seriously, are all of these international organizations created just to transfer US tax dollars to a series of thuggish dictaotrs and european bureaucrats?
Send me the money! I'll spend it all in the uSA and its dependencies!

There is no smoking gun Fox points out, but the Wolf hunt continues. As the Gonzales & Rove matters prove – is not the evidence or lack thereof, its how many bushis can they pick off before January 20 2009.

The European media can't help but bad-mouth any American conservative they can find.

That's okay; it's good practice for the day when their new Muslim masters order Eurocrats to denounce America--just before being beheaded.

Hard for me to imagine that Paul Wolfowitz (for that matter, other "Bushies") went into his current job with both eyes shut.

How do they imagine that one guy alone can affect the wholesale changes needed to overhaul these dinasors (the same for John Bolton at his UN stint)? Yet if you (in this case, Wolfie) make changes at the personnel level, first thing the rest of us hear is "cronyism" with a capital c.

There's gotta be some "Bush's fault" somewhere. Or us Americans are just too naive.

"If these people do not make an effort to deal with the corruption in organizations like the World Bank and the UN the American people might eventually get to the place where they just don't want to support them anymore. "

Is it me or is there lately a rash of people in the news worried to death about loosing their jobs?

If Wolfowitz is forced out, he will sue. The World Bank does not want their dirty laundry and long history of corruption, aired.

April 24, 2007: The Wolfowitz at my door

Comments

Post a comment

Email This Post