Feith Nominated For World Bank

April 13, 2007

Breaking News:

Washington D.C. (RBN) – Paul Wolfowitz is stepping down from his position as head of the World Bank effective immediately. In a press statement the White House thanked Wolfowitz for his personal achievement of bringing the World Bank to the same ethic level the President and his staff are proud to hold on to.

Wolfowitz will be remembered for his energetic fight against corruption. As he expressed in a speech in October 2005: "Perhaps the most important is leadership with accountability.
Corruption benefits the privileged and deprives the poor, draining
resources and discouraging investment."

President Bush is expected to nominate Douglas J. Feith to succeed Wolfowitz. Feith is currently teaching at Georgetown University.

A senior administration official described Feith as "committed to development" and "a compassionate, decent man." He added that as No. 3 at the Pentagon, Feith had demonstrated skill for managing a large institution and was "without question one of the most brilliant individuals in government."

Posted by b on April 13, 2007 at 09:36 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Douglas J. Feith.
Close cousin of Wile E. Coyote, and consistent customer of Acme Corporation for all his political solutions. A true Master of Disaster, a leaker of classified information, the Chief in Charge of the Office of Special Plans at the Pentagon that stovepiped lies up the poop chute into Dubya’s brain and speeches.
A hard core neocon ideologue without an original idea in his entire life. A spymaster, whose personal protege Larry Franklin is in jail for passing secrets directly through the front door of the Israeli Embassy.
Roundly described as the dumbest fucking guy on the planet by people who’ve worked with him in the Pentagon.
Why not just appoint the Israeli ambassador?

Posted by: Antifa | Apr 13 2007 10:53 utc | 1

in other news…
Wolfowitz asks g.f. if she can float him a loan until he gets a new position within Bushworld. Sources say he is under consideration for the job of “Fucking up the universe” now that he’s taken on the U.S., Iraq and the World.

Posted by: fauxreal | Apr 13 2007 12:20 utc | 2

breaking news
wolfowitz has gracefully accepted the job as war czar for the cheney bush junta
wofowitz on accepted the new work has sd, “well, i know a lot about wars & how to create them – i think on this i am without peer & i’d like to take america into many other wars where our national interested can be defended & i can help my friend find work – he sd he was also considering some counseeling work with the govt of israel to offer his considered advice on the problems on the israel lebanon border”
george bush as is his habitude pulled out his phrase book & sd “heckuva guy”

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 13 2007 13:44 utc | 3

dumb fucker

Posted by: annie | Apr 13 2007 17:17 utc | 4

lol
i hardly know what to say about anyone even considering this. can we drive the US governments reputation into the ground further? i swear it is comical.
who ever hears the name fieth and doesn’t automatically think of frank’s comment? who? it’s not some underground secret! it’s no different then flipping the bird at not just the US but at the world! it’s hard not to laugh at the suggestion of this.

Posted by: annie | Apr 13 2007 17:25 utc | 5

umm… annie, check the byline on b’s breaking story. 😉

Posted by: b real | Apr 13 2007 18:23 utc | 6

Wolfowitz’s Apology: Don’t Hate Me Because I Helped Launch The Iraq War

Despite the emerging evidence of Wolfowitz’s corruption and increasing clamor for calls to resign, Bush is standing firmly with him. “Of course President Wolfowitz has our full confidence,” Deputy White House Press Secretary Tony Fratto said yesterday.

It’s all a “mistake.”
“World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz publicly apologized yesterday for the ‘mistake’ of personally orchestrating a high-paying job and guaranteed promotions for a bank employee with whom he is romantically involved, as new details of his role in the arrangement emerged and staff members angrily demanded his resignation.
Wolfowitz attempted to address about 200 staffers gathered in the bank’s central atrium but left after some began hissing, booing, and chanting ‘Resign. . . . Resign.’ He had approached the gathering after holding a news conference in which he said, “I made a mistake for which I am sorry.”
Bank insiders confirmed reports from the bank’s staff association that Wolfowitz directed personnel officials to give Shaha Riza, his longtime companion, an automatic ‘outstanding’ rating and the highest possible pay raises during an indefinite posting at the State Department, as well as a promotion upon her return to the bank.”
And he lied about it.
“Until yesterday, Wolfowitz and his aides had insisted that ‘all arrangements concerning Shaha Riza were made at the direction of the bank’s board of directors.” Bank sources said, however, that neither the board nor the ethics committee was aware of the terms of the final agreement.'”
It’s just so petty. Paul Wolfowitz, PNAC mastermind and architect of the neoconservative agenda busted like a Quizno’s assistant manager for getting his girlfriend a sweet job.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Apr 13 2007 18:44 utc | 7

World Bank Board Weighs Response to Chief’s Actions

Documents released today by the executive board called into question Mr. Wolfowitz’s earlier assertions that bank ethics officials had been kept informed about the new post for his companion, Shaha Ali Riza. The papers also indicated that Mr. Wolfowitz was more involved in securing the new post for his companion than he has let on.
In August 2005, for instance, Mr. Wolfowitz wrote a memo to the bank’s vice president for human resources in which he virtually dictated the kind of job Ms. Riza should be given. “I now direct you to agree to a proposal which includes the following terms and conditions,” Mr. Wolfowitz wrote. “You should accept immediately her offer to be detailed to an outside institution of her choosing while retaining bank salary and benefits.”
The executive board said ethics officials had not talked with Ms. Riza. “Neither did it find that the terms and conditions of the agreement had been commented on, reviewed or approved by the ethics committee, its chairman or the board,” the executive board added.

as Uncle says – petty …

Posted by: b | Apr 13 2007 19:24 utc | 8

From WaPo, april 13, 2007:
“The scandal centers on the pay of people around Paul Wolfowitz, the World Bank president. Kevin Kellems, an unremarkable press-officer-cum-aide who had previously worked for Wolfowitz at the Pentagon, pulls down $240,000 tax-free — the low end of the salary scale for World Bank vice presidents, who typically have PhDs and 25 years of development experience. Robin Cleveland, who also parachuted in with Wolfowitz, gets $250,000 and a free pass from the IRS, far more than her rank justifies. Kellems and Cleveland have contracts that don’t expire when Wolfowitz’s term is up. They have been granted quasi-tenure.”
link
Favoritisim, not just for the sweetie. Certainly the reason for uproar amongst WB employees, who are perfectly used to certain shenanigans.

Posted by: Noirette | Apr 13 2007 19:47 utc | 9

Interesting detail in the article I cited in 8:

Ms. Riza speaks Arabic, French, Italian and Turkish and has considerable experience in Africa and the Middle East.

Ms. Riza is Wolfies darling and she doesn’t speak English?

Posted by: b | Apr 13 2007 19:48 utc | 10

Somehow I hate and like this blogger:
Wolfiegate

IMO, he is a war criminal. Men were hanged after WW2 for “planning and waging aggressive war.” What did he (PW) do? IMO, he was at the heart of the conspiracy to persuade GWB to invade Iraq (for whatever set of reasons that you prefer), depose its ruler, destroy its government and substitute another more to our liking. Is this not “planning and waging aggressive war?”
And now this over educated and deceptively mild mannered nitwit has literally and figuratively screwed himself out of a job. His penchant for such behavior has long been known among the cognoscenti in Washington. Under most circumstances I would not take notice of such personal details in his mis-spent life, but in this case I can hardly wait for the denouement.

Posted by: b | Apr 13 2007 20:13 utc | 11

By Linn, from the Brookings Institution, 2004:
“I will focus my comments specifically on the role of World Bank lending in middle income developing countries .. I will make six interrelated points:
– There has been a substantial decline in World Bank lending to MICs.
– MICs still face a significant development challenge.
– The declining role of the Bank lending is a problem for the MICs and the Bank.
– There are many reasons for the decline in Bank lending to MICs.
– There is good news as some progress has been made to facilitate lending to MICs.
– There is still much that can and needs to be done.”
link **PDF**
That is, in 2004 even US think tanks were alarmed. Wolfie was demoted, shunted aside, to a post that had little future, here we call it a ‘trash chair.’
Current article, March 07:
World Bank Lending to Africa Plummets — Impossible for Bank to Provide Quality Projects in Final Quarter to Match Last Year’s Output
(Washington, D.C.) – “The Government Accountability Project (GAP) has learned that through the first nine months of fiscal year 2007 (FY 2007), the World Bank’s lending to poor African countries has plummeted relative to the amount lent through the same time period last year. The lending lapse has occurred despite Bank president Paul Wolfowitz’ frequent public statements that the region is his top priority.” link
I once saw a simple chart with lending / returns / time (at least 10 years are needed) for the WB but sadly cannot find it now, google is not my friend tonite. Of course readers will be aware of Argentina and so on.

Posted by: Noirette | Apr 13 2007 20:14 utc | 12

the “developing” world would be much better off w/ mr. wolfowitz retaining his position. please, let’s not try to save the world bank.

Posted by: b real | Apr 13 2007 20:24 utc | 13

Lending lapse! (from the article I quoted just above)
Hilarious. Feith may be the perfect idiot to play figure head and hire his wife, mistress, buddies (if he has any of these) make incoherent speeches, feel he is someone.
Maybe all the WB employees will just quit. (Hope springs, etc.) It must be quite uncomfortable to take a plane and see Stiglitz’ book on the Airport Supermarket shelves. And ppl in the plane reading it! Ok they go first class, where ppl keep their reading matter kinda discrete.

Posted by: Noirette | Apr 13 2007 20:31 utc | 14

Lending lapse! (from the article I quoted just above)
Hilarious. Feith may be the perfect idiot to play figure head and hire his wife, mistress, buddies (if he has any of these), etc.
It must be quite uncomfortable for WB employees to take a plane and see Stiglitz’ book on the Airport Supermarket shelves. And ppl in the plane reading it! Ok they go first class, where ppl keep their reading matter kinda discrete.

Posted by: Noirette | Apr 13 2007 20:34 utc | 15

argh apologies

Posted by: Noirette | Apr 13 2007 20:44 utc | 16

The story is getting worse for Wolfowitz. His girl-friend is getting the $200,000 tax free per year of World Bank money for doing what?

The woman at the center of the storm surrounding World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz has spent the past few months trying to get one of the signature efforts of President Bush’s Middle East democracy campaign off the ground.
The Foundation for the Future, as the effort is called, has made no grants and held only two board meetings since its creation 1 1/2 years ago. Though Shaha Riza, who has been romantically linked to Wolfowitz, is not listed as part of the staff on the organization’s Web site, she is the only person working in the group’s offices, located within the Henry L. Stimson Center, a think tank.
…
Since September 2005, the World Bank has paid Riza’s salary — which under the terms of a contract dictated by Wolfowitz included automatic raises that has brought it to $193,590 tax-free — while she was seconded to the State Department to assist on Middle East democracy issues. There, she worked under Elizabeth Cheney, who was then principal deputy assistant secretary
…
Riza moved to the foundation in December 2006 to become senior adviser to its executive committee and board of directors, according to documents released yesterday by the World Bank.
…

Posted by: b | Apr 14 2007 7:12 utc | 17

The “Coalition of Evil” now offers Douglas Feith to be the World Bank’s new Prez? This is truly a world turned upside-down.
Will his nomination be confirmed by the Senate? This is just brazen to present another for this job who is from the inner circle of the War Party.

Posted by: Copeland | Apr 14 2007 23:41 utc | 18

copeland
b is just joshing but anything is possible with the coalition of evil

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 15 2007 0:55 utc | 19

Hmm – Wolfowitz doesn’t want to resign and has tacit backing from Cheney and some African governments who benefitted from him.
But the Europeans who finance a lot of the World Bank want him to resign. If he does not do so, they will just stop giving money to the World Bank. That is probably the best thing that could happen.
The World Bank is used as an instrument of U.S. foreign policy but the money is coughed up from Europe and Japan. So lets keep Wolfowitz there and just dry up the money …
Wolfowitz Says Won’t Resign; Bank Says Concerned
and
Public Rebuke for Wolfowitz, but He Digs In

Some bank officials said that as a practical matter, Mr. Wolfowitz’s future may be decided by a complicated interplay of Bush administration and European politics.
The antipathy to his leadership is especially high in Britain, France and Germany, they said. The British chancellor of the exchequer, Gordon Brown, who is expected to succeed Tony Blair as prime minister as early as this summer, is under pressure from his own political base to stand up to the United States more than Mr. Blair has done.
Europeans are already channeling their aid for poor countries away from the bank and toward agencies based in Europe, a trend that many say will accelerate rapidly if Mr. Wolfowitz remains.
It has always been customary for the United States to choose the president of the World Bank, but there are certain to be demands for that tradition to be scrapped if Mr. Wolfowitz leaves.

Posted by: b | Apr 16 2007 8:16 utc | 20

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