Wolfy vows to stay at the World Bank

[deminks]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070415/finance_meetings.html?.v=19

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said Sunday he will continue to lead bank efforts to reduce global poverty, resisting calls to step down over his involvement in securing a huge pay increase for a close female friend.

"The bank has important work to do and I will continue to do it," he said at a news conference winding up a meeting of the steering committee for the bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The committee said in its closing communique the Wolfowitz issue was "of great concern to us all" and called on the bank board looking into the matter to complete its work.

"We have to ensure that the bank can effectively carry out its mandate and maintain its credibility and reputation as well as the motivation of its staff," the committee said.

[Jack Rabbit]

1. Heckuva job, Wolfie

!!

[MichiganVote]

2. Wolfie or Gonzo? Who's first?

[Jack Rabbit]

3. Gonzo

After all, it isn't about sex.

[MichiganVote]

4. :) Not yet anyway.

[soothsayer]

7. jeezus, maybe neither. are these folks unstoppable? or just

shameless.

[MichiganVote]

9. Shameless, no question. Unstoppable? No, slow progress tho'.

[rodeodance]

5. another Gonzo------staying when you are not wanted

[Ino]

6. What? He's not staying to continue his work with children? (n/t)

[fooj]

8. Of COURSE he is staying.

Who else will oversee all of the ILLEGALITIES?

[AnnInLa]

10. Girlfriend now works for non-existent foundation???

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/4/15/93654/4437


And here is where it gets truly weird. Steve Clemons has pointed out that nobody at the State Department seems to be able to describe what Riza actually does, or identify an address where she actually, physically, works. Here's a clip from the Friday State Department gaggle.

(transcript follows, please go read it)

So, what the hell does the Foundation for the Future actually do, anyway? Weeeell, that's a little difficult to figure out. Based on the initial Department of State puff piece from 2005, it looks like a Liz Cheney operation - a $56 million Bush foreign policy propaganda effort, funded mostly by the US and its buddies in Qatar and Bahrain, to

...support civil society organizations in their efforts to foster democracy and freedom in the broader Middle East and North Africa.

snip

o, what exactly is going on here? Riza is, yet is not, an employee of the US Government. It looks like the World Bank is sending money to the State Department to pay Riza $200,000 per year, tax-free, to do unspecified work for what appears to be an off-book money-laundering operation for the State Department. Wolfowitz fans will recall that this was essentially the same money-laundering strategy that was used to fund the terrorist campaign against Nicaraugua in the 1980's, with hilarious links to (can you stand it?) Iran. Sheesh. These guys never learn.

(the whole diary will make your head explode...worth a read)