He's Such an Exotic Jew

PAUL Wolfowitz has really had a bad couple of weeks. He not only lost his job, he lost his girlfriend, too.

Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the Iraq war, was pushed out as president of the World Bank over a controversial pay and promotion package he arranged for his brunette girlfriend, Shaha Ali Riza.

Sources say Riza, a brilliant feminist [and a "Tunisian divorcée"] with a promising diplomatic career, was upset by all the publicity and the implication that she was getting ahead with the help of a powerful man.

After Wolfowitz joined the World Bank, Ali Riza was first transferred to a joint World Bank/U.S. Agency for International Development multinational investment project, and then to work on the bank's South American interests.

...Meanwhile, a World Bank source told us Ali Riza may be returning to the bank's main Washington offices after Wolfowitz officially steps down. Wolfowitz remains legally separated from Clare Selgin, an expert on Indonesian anthropology [and blonde].

Israel Always Manages to Slip In

Even in a positive sense.

There's a dispute over Paul Wolfowitz and some Middle Eastern shtup of his. Well, Friends of george Soros have leaped into the fray and there's a counter-attack in the Wall Street Journal which, incidentally makes Ehud Olmert's presumed shennanigans child's play in comparison to Koffi Anan.

Anyway, here's an excerpt from the op-ed:-

Mark Malloch Brown spoke Monday to a crowded auditorium at the World Bank's headquarters, warning that the bank's mission was "hugely at risk" as long as Paul Wolfowitz remained its president...

...Mr. Malloch Brown, remember, was until last year Kofi Annan's deputy at the United Nations. In that position, he distinguished himself by spinning away the $100 billion Oil for Food scandal as little more than a blip in the U.N.'s good work, and one that had little to do with Mr. Annan himself. Last week, Mr. Malloch Brown was named vice president of the Quantum Fund, the hedge fund run by his billionaire friend George Soros. A former World Bank official himself and ally of soon-to-be British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Mr. Malloch Brown would almost surely be a leading candidate to replace Mr. Wolfowitz should he step down...He also stands for everything Mr. Wolfowitz opposes, beginning with the issue of corruption. Consider Mr. Malloch Brown's defense of the U.N.'s procurement practices.

"Not a penny was lost from the organization," he insisted last year, following an audit of the U.N.'s peacekeeping procurement by its Office of Internal Oversight Services. In fact, the office found that $7 million had been lost from overpayment; $50 million worth of contracts showed indications of bid rigging; $61 million had bypassed U.N. rules; $82 million had been lost to mismanagement; and $110 million had "insufficient" justification. That's $310 million out of a budget of $1.6 billion, and who knows what the auditors missed.

Mr. Malloch Brown also made curious use of English by insisting that Paul Volcker's investigation into Oil for Food had "fully exonerated" Mr. Annan. In fact, Mr. Volcker's report made an "adverse finding" against the then-Secretary-General. Among other details, the final report noted that Mr. Annan was "aware of [Saddam's] kickback scheme at least as early as February 2001," yet never reported it to the U.N. Security Council, much less the public, a clear breach of his fiduciary responsibilities as the U.N.'s chief administrative officer. Mr. Malloch Brown described the idea that Mr. Annan might resign as "inappropriate political assassination"--a standard he apparently doesn't apply to political enemies like Mr. Wolfowitz.

Mr. Malloch Brown never made any serious attempt to reform the U.N. beyond the cosmetic, while doing everything he could to block the real reforms proposed by Americans Christopher Burnham and former Ambassador John Bolton. He was, however, energetic when it came to lecturing Americans about what they owed the U.N., such as joining the "reformed" Human Rights Council (whose only achievement to date has been to castigate Israel)

Did you catch it? This Moloch, oops, Malloch, anti-Israel as well.

Add Wolfowitz to the List

There was a big brouhuha here in Israel over the claim of religious nationalists that everyone who had a major part to play in bringing upon us the plague of disenagement (okay, it is just a week after Pesach) has been struck from on High.

Sharon, Katzav, Karadi, Chalutz, Hanegbi, etc.

Well, add Paul Wolfowitz (who is sleeping with a Libyan) who contibuted big bucks for this project:-

The hothouses were passed to the Palestinians in September in a $14 million deal brokered by former World Bank President James Wolfenson and several wealthy Jewish Americans.

and now this:-

World Bank mulls Wolfowitz's fate

Mr Wolfowitz has said he regrets his mistake

Senior World Bank officials have been holding a key board meeting in which they were to discuss the fate of the organisation's chief, Paul Wolfowitz.
Mr Wolfowitz has been under pressure to quit after admitting helping his partner win a promotion and pay rise.

Although the US continues to support Mr Wolfowitz other nations have questioned his position. Mr Wolfowitz is due to appear before the press after the meeting for the first time since the controversy broke.

British Development Minister Hilary Benn expressed regret that the question of Mr Wolfowitz's fate would overshadow the joint meeting of the IMF and World Bank in Washington. He said the incident had "damaged the bank" and should never have occurred.

Background in a Nutshell:

Shaha Ali Riza, a bank official who was moved to the State Department with a large pay rise after Wolfowitz’s appointment, revealed her distress in a memo to an investigating committee.

“I have now been victimised for agreeing to an arrangement that I have objected to and that I did not believe from the outset was in my best interest,” she wrote.

Riza, a Libyan-born British citizen who was educated at Oxford, had worked for the World Bank for seven years when Wolfowitz became president. She had been his girlfriend for several years but bank rules forbid office romances. When she was transferred to the State Department she was awarded a pay increase of more than $60,000 to $193,590, more than the salary of Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state.

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(rough language in those two)

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NYTimes editorial.