World Bank Stifles Wolfowitz’s Girlfriend

Speaking truth to Pow–MMMFRRFF!

I am so glad the Wall Street Journal is still hammering away at the World Bank about their attempt to railroad Paul Wolfowitz. They’ve said in several editorials by now that they are going to push back–or turn a “firehose” on the World Bank for what they’re trying to do here. Bret Stephens, in particular, has offered to do for the World Bank what the WSJ’s Claudia Rosett did for the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program:

As this column goes to press, it’s unclear whether Mr. Wolfowitz’s presidency will survive the week. So be it. Once the Wolfowitz “scandal” ends, we can begin looking in earnest at the real scandal called the World Bank.

I kind of get the feeling that even if you’re not already interested in how the WB spends your tax dollars, you may change your mind after you hear what the WSJ will dig up.

Exit Question: By the left’s own standards, does this little bit of HuffPo scandal-mongering about Ms. Riza’s nationality count as Islamophobia?

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz’s girlfriend, Shaha Riza, for whom Wolfowitz arranged not only jobs, incredible pay raises, automatic “outstanding” ratings in performance reviews, but also — apparently — a security clearance, is probably not a spy. But our system of national security “secrets management” is not based on trust. It’s based on multi-pronged, overlapping constant investigation — human and electronic.

It would be important for any senior State Department or Defense Department official tasked with maintaining the integrity and security of classified material and information to approach Shaha Riza — a Libyan national raised in Saudi Arabia — who was the “girlfriend” of the Deputy Secretary of Defense — as if she could be a spy.

He seems to be saying “she’s passed a thorough background check and qualified for a security clearance, so she’s probably not a spy. But let’s just pretend like she is.”

Previous Wolfie items here and here.

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