Neo-Con Anti-Corruption Drive at the World Bank Stumbles

[Idaho]

Wolfowitz - bent as a nine-bob note

This is priceless

[Grey_Fox]

Heh. Moron.

[Odin]

I'm surprised it took this long to link him to some form of corruption. Whats the old saying "the apple dosent fall to far from the tree"

[Lemur]

I find it hard to believe that any woman, no matter how amazing, is worth $200,000 a year just for sex. (After all, Wolfie already has a wife and three kids.)

I mean, really, $200k for this:

The man should be let go for taste issues, let alone his corruption.

Isn't it generous of us to share our red rot with the World Bank?

[Xiahou]

The executive board of the World Bank has said it did not approve a hefty pay rise ordered by its president Paul Wolfowitz for his partner.

Mr Wolfowitz has faced calls to resign after admitting he helped his partner Shaha Riza win a promotion to a high-paying job at the World Bank.

Way to go... moron.

[Ser Clegane]

And she apparently doesn’t even pay taxes, since she’s not an American.

This statement looks a bit like odd ... why would not being American absolve her from paying tayes?

[CrossLOPER]

This statement looks a bit like odd ... why would not being American absolve her from paying tayes?

Gift tax rules with respect to expatriates

Nonresident noncitizens generally are subject to gift tax on certain transfers by gift of U.S.-situated property. Such property includes real estate and tangible property located within the United States. Unlike the estate tax rules for U.S. stock held by nonresidents, however, nonresident noncitizens generally are not subject to U.S. gift tax on the transfer of intangibles, such as stock or securities, regardless of where such property is situated.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquer...sel=TOC_25410&

It's an old link and I probably cited the wrong paragraph. Let me try to find a better one.

[rory_20_uk]

He's President of the World Bank, and he's this inept at nepotism? I don't know whether to be pleased that he's been so honest in the past that this bungling attempt is the best he can do, or worry that he is so thick that even when $200,000 for the job, plus his own if caught necessitates some planning he's still this inept.

If I were in his position I'd have given every member of my family a high paying consultant job counting marbles in the Caribbean - but I hope I'd do a better job at hiding it!

[KukriKhan]

Wolfie already has a wife and three kids.

Divorced in 2002, apparently. But yeah to the rest.

[Xiahou]

Divorced in 2002, apparently. But yeah to the rest.

Oops, makes ya wonder about the "Wonkette's" fact checking doesn't it?

The girlfriend of the married Wolfowitz, Shaha Ali Riza, now earns $193,590 per year from the World Bank

Not that it makes the rest of what's publicly known any better.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Well, can't complain about inaccurate titles.

Sounds like he ought to be fired.

CR

[Spetulhu]

This statement looks a bit like odd ... why would not being American absolve her from paying tayes?

[I]Gift tax rules with respect to expatriates.

It's an old link and I probably cited the wrong paragraph. Let me try to find a better one.

Try the World Bank.

SECTION 9. Immunities from Taxation

(b) No tax shall be levied on or in respect of salaries and emoluments paid by the Association to Executive Directors, Alternates, officials or employees of the Association who are not local citizens, local subjects, or other local nationals.

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTE...:73154,00.html

[Adrian II]

It seems he created an inner cabal, hijacked the bank and used it as a cash cow for Bush. All shock and no awe, as usual.

Over time, Mr. Wolfowitz created an impression that at critical moments he was putting American foreign policy interests first, most notably when he suspended a program in Uzbekistan after the country denied landing rights to American military aircraft, and directed huge amounts of aid to the countries he once recruited to sign on to Washington’s counterterrorism agenda.

It did not help that he relied heavily on a pair of aides drawn from the Bush administration, Robin Cleveland and Kevin Kellems, who created an inner circle that the bank’s professional staff members said they had great trouble piercing.

link

[Ser Clegane]

Try the World Bank.

Thanks a lot for the clarification, Spetulhu

[doc_bean]

It seems he created an inner cabal, hijacked the bank and used it as a cash cow for Bush. All shock and no awe, as usual.

Over time, Mr. Wolfowitz created an impression that at critical moments he was putting American foreign policy interests first, most notably when he suspended a program in Uzbekistan after the country denied landing rights to American military aircraft, and directed huge amounts of aid to the countries he once recruited to sign on to Washington’s counterterrorism agenda.

It did not help that he relied heavily on a pair of aides drawn from the Bush administration, Robin Cleveland and Kevin Kellems, who created an inner circle that the bank’s professional staff members said they had great trouble piercing.

link

Wasn't that the point of his appointement ?

[Spetulhu]

It seems he created an inner cabal, hijacked the bank and used it as a cash cow for Bush. All shock and no awe, as usual.

Wasn't that the point of his appointement?

Perhaps so, but it's not corrupt to prop up US foreign policy. It's expected that the system works like that. Giving your woman a pay hike is bad since the President didn't order it.

[Adrian II]

Perhaps so, but it's not corrupt to prop up US foreign policy. It's expected that the system works like that.

Only neo-Cons would expect that.

This administration has serious issues. It would be better for all, and even for them, if they were gone yesterday.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Corruption is less of a problem than incompetance. A corrupt politician/executive who is also competant makes it so you never notice he's corrupt. I.e. you don't really suffer from his corruption.

[Scurvy]

. A corrupt politician/executive who is also competant makes it so you never notice he's corrupt. I.e. you don't really suffer from his corruption.

? --> you do suffer from his corruption, but you don't notice

[Adrian II]

Riza is a long-standing political ally of Wolfowitz. Already in the nineties they worked together at the Iraq Foundation. And there is more. At this level, there is always more.

(Washington, D.C.) – The Government Accountability Project (GAP) has learned that Shaha Riza, long-time companion of World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz and fellow Bank staffer, did not receive Bank approval for outside employment as a consultant for a major U.S. defense contractor during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

According to an article published in Vanity Fair last month, Riza was a “subject matter expert” for the Middle East during the Iraq War run-up at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a firm focused on defense capabilities and intelligence gathering. At that time, Paul Wolfowitz was the Deputy Secretary of Defense.

Inside sources at the Bank have verified to GAP that Riza never applied for nor received permission to provide these consultant services to SAIC. This is a gross violation of World Bank staff rules, which require Bank employees to clear extracurricular professional activities with the Outside Interests Committee in order to prevent conflicts of interest. Such undisclosed parallel employment, GAP sources say, would never have been tolerated by the Bank and are grounds for dismissal.

“Considering that Riza was reportedly romantically involved with Wolfowitz at the time, that the Iraq War was imminent, that SAIC was a defense contractor, and that the World Bank had active projects in Iraq, multiple conflicts of interest probably existed,” said GAP International Program Director Bea Edwards.

link

Like I said, this administration has serious issues. And they are unravelling one by one.

[Xiahou]

Over time, Mr. Wolfowitz created an impression that at critical moments he was putting American foreign policy interests first, most notably when he suspended a program in Uzbekistan after the country denied landing rights to American military aircraft, and directed huge amounts of aid to the countries he once recruited to sign on to Washington’s counterterrorism agenda.

Now my memory isn't the greatest, but didn't Uzbekistan deny US military rights in response to criticism from the US of Uzbekistan's human rights record? To me, it doesn't seem that it's too big a leap to think that an aid program would also be suspended for the same human rights abuses. The NYT gets so much wrong, so often, that it's tough to take them seriously.

I'm not looking to defend Wolfowitz, but while we're throwing the rope over the tree branch, let's make sure we've got the right charges. Next we'll be hearing about how he ate babies.

[Adrian II]

And more.

WASHINGTON, Apr 13 (IPS) - Of the top five outside international appointments made by embattled World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz during his nearly two-year tenure, three were senior political appointees of right-wing governments that provided strong backing for U.S. policy in Iraq.

The latest appointment came just last month when former Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher was named senior vice president for external affairs.

Muasher served as King Abdullah's ambassador here in Washington in the run-up to the Iraq war in 2002 and reportedly played a key role in ensuring Amman's co-operation in the March 2003 invasion.

During and after the invasion, when he served first as foreign minister and then as deputy prime minister, he was considered among Washington's staunchest supporters in an increasingly hostile Arab world.

Muasher's appointment came nine months after Wolfowitz named former Spanish foreign minister Ana Palacio as the Bank's senior vice president and general counsel. As foreign minister, she was an outspoken proponent of the U.S.-led Iraq invasion, to which her government, led by former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, contributed 1,500 troops.

Also in June 2006, Wolfowitz named former Salvadoran Finance Minister Juan Jose Daboub as one of the Bank's two managing directors. In addition to his financial post, Daboub served as chief of staff to former President Francisco Flores when, as a charter member of the U.S.-led "Coalition of the Willing", he sent nearly 400 Salvadoran combat troops to Iraq, more than any other developing country.

The fact that Wolfowitz also took with him to the Bank several key right-wing Republican aides -- none with any development experience -- who had worked closely with him on Iraq-related issues while he was at the Pentagon also bolstered that impression.

There have been reports of elaborate off-the-record efforts on Wolfowitz's part, during his tenure at the Bank, to persuade prominent journalists that the administration's pre-war allegations of an operational link between Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda were indeed true.

It is in that context that Wolfowitz's appointments of non-U.S. individuals who were not already working for the Bank to top posts appear significant.

"I believe that Paul Wolfowitz has used his tenure in part to reward those governments and individuals who were particularly helpful to the U.S. in the Iraq War," said Steven Clemons, director of the American Strategy Programme of the New America Foundation, who has closely followed Wolfowitz's career on his much-read blog, www.thewashingtonnote.com.

link

[Adrian II]

I'm not looking to defend Wolfowitz, but while we're throwing the rope over the tree branch, let's make sure we've got the right charges.

Yes, let's. Does it strike anyone else as odd that Riza was given a secondment with the U.S. State Department where she worked to further American policy under Dick Cheney's daughter while receiving an exorbitant salary out of an international public budget?

[Tribesman]

Now my memory isn't the greatest, but didn't Uzbekistan deny US military rights in response to criticism from the US of Uzbekistan's human rights record? To me, it doesn't seem that it's too big a leap to think that an aid program would also be suspended for the same human rights abuses. The NYT gets so much wrong, so often, that it's tough to take them seriously.

If that were the case , then woudn't there be matching suspensions of aid for those other countries in the region who also got the same human rights criticisms from the US but didn't revoke their military assistance .
So that isn't the case is it. In fact they got a boost for the aid programs at the time when Uzbeck got its suspended .

[Adrian II]

SAIC, the firm where Riza acted as a consultant in the run-up to the Iraq invasion, isn't just any old security firm. It's spook central where former NSA directors and CIA staff walk in and out.

Guess what job they gave SAIC in Iraq, among other things? The job of setting up the Iraq Media Network that was supposed to conquer hearts and minds. Since cloak and dagger stuff doesn't mix well with freedom, transparency and tolerance, this was a failure. A failure that cost the U.S. taxpayer $82 million.

Here's what else was in the SAIC contract.

And can you guess who oversaw this contract as Deputy Secretary of Defence?


Meanwhile, in an office in the Henry L. Stimson Center in Washington, Ms Riza is earning her $193.00 salary by heading the Foundation for the Future, an institute thatw as given a $56 million budget two years ago with which to promote democracy and civil society in the Middle East.

Can you guess what the foundation has done so far? How many grants it has made? What it has contributed to democracy and civil society in the Middle East?

Uh-oh..

[KukriKhan]

...After meeting in Geneva in February, the executive committee announced that it would hold a "logo competition" for the region's youth...

LoL, oh-ell, oh-ell. for that money, I just hope it's something snazzy, with a globe and flowers, and smiling girls, and stuff.

So. Maybe we have malfeasance, on top of inappropriate personnel decisions? yikes

Speaking of cabals, how many of GW's original, unelected advisors remain? Condi = 1. Others?

[Idaho]

With the brains of Dubya, the compassion and integrity of Rumsfield and the honest nobility of Wolfowitz - the neo-con express chugs over the horizon into history where they will be reviled with the distaste they are due.

[Banquo's Ghost]

With the brains of Dubya, the compassion and integrity of Rumsfield and the honest nobility of Wolfowitz - the neo-con express chugs over the horizon into history where they will be reviled with the distaste they are due.

Oh, I don't think it has left the station quite yet.

Since Mr Wolfowitz appears to have the backing of the White House (and assorted African leaders who are just gagging to be present at Paul's next speech on corruption in their continent) it is not at all certain he will be leaving.

Even if he does get levered out, I hear tell that his replacement may well be the noted liberal thinker fresh from the UN - John Bolton.

[Xiahou]

Even if he does get levered out, I hear tell that his replacement may well be the noted liberal thinker fresh from the UN - John Bolton.

Ah, now that would be an interesting choice.

[Adrian II]

The American media finally find the guts to report on the SAIC affair.