What a joke the World Bank is for allowing him to "save face". This just goes to show if you have money you can be as unethical as possible but still get away with it. If this was someone else it would have carried far worse consequences. I suppose there is no justice in organizations like this. If you kiss enough butt you can do whatever you want with no penalties. I am sure he is not hurting for money. I love how people put unqualified people in place who get rewarded when there are more qualified individuals buf if you are not in the circle forget it. Shame on the World Bank!

The World Bank didn't put him there, the US did.

...

Whoa, who could have predicted this would
happen?

Competent people could have, I suppose,
other than THAT, sure.

woah boy...

..

The last time Wolfie was able to execute his spin, he got the U.S. to invade a country that was a pain-in-the-neck BUT not a threat. As a result of his "spin", over 3,000 Americans have died, more than 25,000 have been physically and mentally maimed, and we have spent nearly a half a trillion dollars. Perhaps the best way to allow Wolfie to save face is to hand him a rifle, give him a Kelvar vest, and send him to Iraq.

What's new?

Yet another Bush crony, yet another scandal.

Really who cares. I see no reason friends and relatives can't benefit from my hard work. If I were in such a position, I would hire any and all of my friends and relatives... IF THEY ARE QUALIFED. I mean really.... who cares.

"Save Face" baloney. This is so he can continue to collect some sort of big retirement (golden parachute) payment. Look.....go home and live off your girl friends big salary bozo. Wolfy...your my hero.

Face-saving seems to be a pre-occupation with the Bush Administration and their cronies. The Iraq debacle, massive corruption, sole-source contracting to Halliburton et. al., the firing of 8 U.S. Attorneys, political appointments designed to undermine consumer protections etc. ... historians will have a field day with this crew.

It took 9 years, but Wolfowitz finally pays for his most outrageous pursuits, which were not committed during his tenure at the World Bank.

save face? wolfowitz has no face to save. his credibility and integrity are non-existent. wolfie, in the annals of history, will not be remembered kindly. maybe he should go to iraq, pick up a rifle and get busy?

Sure, no problem, let him save face, but get his skanky, lying, cheating, incompetent butt OUT of the WB.

Why does a thief get a chance to save face?
The bush administration has done nothing to deserve any face saving.

Why not just fire him? If you ask me its WAY too late for Wolfowitz to save face. He might have been able to do so 2 weeks ago, but not now. Just fire him.

If indeed there is a vacancy I would be willing to take the job. I know at least as little about international monetary policy and economics as Wolfowitz did when he took over at the bank and my wife already has a well paying job.

hot damn...! let it be true... as naomi klein said a few weeks ago...
-----
...the fleeting rush that comes from forcing neocons to resign.
-----
you betcha... i'll take that "fleeting rush" and love it...

A casualty of love, the poor romantic sap. Women seem to be too much trouble for him. Perhaps he should go gay like so many Republicans are doing these days. Or, maybe he should stick to getting massages from 'Central-American gals'.

Heckuva job Wolfowitz!!!!!!!

Is anyone going to ever wake up and smell the common denominator or is everybody to busy getting paid for imcompetence. THE BUSH"S have sat the supreme court- appointed the world bank- and literaly stole the oil from the Iraqi people that we are being forced to pay top dollar for, how much longer are we going to let the rich keep getting richer and further more HOW MUCH MORE COULD THEY POSSIBLY NEED !!!!!

Let him hang. No face-saving. Play his kind of game back to him: make him THINK there'll be a face-saving, wait until he resigns, then give him both barrels.

3,000 US troops dead, 600,000 Iraqis dead (including thousands of innocent women and children). And "no end in sight." That is Wolfowitz' legacy. Let him rot in it.

I LOVE the first reader's comments! My sentiments exactly. Yes, good riddance to bad trash!

It's ok with me, just as long as he dies homeless and broke.

Did anyone happen to notice that Wolfowitz's European trip is to the annual Bildeberger meeting?

Not only you have Wolfowitz as an example of undignified and unethical staff of the World Bank. You have all those who did not speak out and let him go ahead with his plan. You see it everyday. People just want to protect their jobs but let something unethical like this go ahead because of monetary and financial reasons, because they have a family to support and they are scared of a life outside the protection of the World Bank Group.

Check this one out: Staff get two promotions in one year and although the Staff Association complains about it, it is covered up in the interest of the organization. I would like to see a list of people who have had dubious and unqualified double promotions since 2004-5. Put everything on the table. It is time to stop the abuse of higher WB authorities. You have a very good example of a Director who who likes to overseas assignments taking her own assistant which is againts bank personnel policies. No one stopped her from doing it and on top the person doing the job in the resident mission was demoted and up do this day her grade nor job title has been changed although she is again in her previous position. Are the VP, Director and Human Resources doing what is right and ethical? Give me a break!

More scum from the Bush Admin not playing by the rules and then trying to feed their ego on the way out the door.

Face saving.....these guys all act like 12 year old kids in a sandbox. Screw them all.

Shame on World Bank with tha "save some face" nonsense. Just because he is rich, he can get away with anything? Why does the World Bank need to save his face after what he's done...played with people's lives, manipulated ethics? Its a shame!

To the reader who says he is responsible for the death of 3000 american citizens...it just does not end there...what about the conservative estimate of 400 thousand iraquis?

Can we ask Bush and the entire administration to resign now to save face?

I'm sure they would look good now compared to what the country and world will think of them after the next year and a half.

Send him to Irag to help mess up the country

Actually the Lancet's Oct 2006 figure of 650,000 deaths was reasonable and conversative some time ago. It's probably more accurate to say 700,000 to 800,000 at this point.

All of these neocons are responsible for this immoral slaughter.

So, when does Wolfowitz get invited to the Bush White House for his Medal of Freedom?

and he will personally be returning all the money, right? there's no chance for him to save face here; most already know what he did wrong... opinions won't change with this "shared responsibility" nonsense...

Why hasn't anyone asked the White House how it squares Wolfie's wife and mistress with their emphasis on family values. I agree that he should volunteer to go to Iraq and help turn around the mess he partially created.

Why don't they just send Wolfie to rehab like everyone else...Then he'll be "All better"!!...Go Wolfie your my hero!!!

I think that if he is forced to resign, there should be an independent inquiry into the world bank's operations and competence. The facts are that he went to the ethics committee and was completely transparent about everything he did to remove the "conflict of interest" of the transfer of the woman he was dating out of the World Bank and into the State Dept. If they approved and cleared these actions before they happened, then there is no basis to ask or recommend for him to resign. I believe the members of the ethics committee should be the ones asked to resign.

The problem is that we just have to come to grips with the political realities. This might mean a face saving exit. But the real face saving is not on behalf of Wolfowitz, but on the Office of the President of the Unites States.
The US government is caving in because they have just experienced another blow to their totalitarian and unilateral approach to world affairs.

What a shame that so many people in this country are buying the story from the world bank eminences who executed this frame-up job on Wolfowitz. It's a case study in why the World Bank is so hidebound and hermetically sealed. The records show that Wolfowitz himself asked to be recused from the matter of his girlfriend's job and compensation and was advised by the World Bank's ethics committee *itself* that he should take the lead in recommending her new job and salary.

From the Wall Street Journal: "Yet the record clearly shows he acted only after he had tried to recuse himself but then wasn't allowed to do so by the ethics committee. And he acted only after that same committee advised him to compensate Ms. Riza for the damage to her career from a "conflict of interest" that was no fault of her own."

All of the rest of this was a classic political hit, fed by willful liars and their willing accomplices. And by repeating the lies and the smears absent the documented context, it has become a fait accompli.

"The only way this fiasco could get any worse would be for Mr. Wolfowitz to resign in the teeth of so much dishonesty and cravenness. We're glad the Bush Administration isn't falling for this Euro-bureaucracy-media putsch. Mr. Wolfowitz has apologized for any mistakes he's made, though we're not sure why. He's the one who deserves an apology."

http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009948

either way, the world bank will continue to use tax payers money to finance multi-national corporations projects under the guise of economic development for underdeveloped nations.

look for WolfMan to be spit combing his hair for his new gig on Fox News - has anyone actually ever heard the guy talk or seen him do anything that wasn't totally corrupt? I know he was the first to get giggy with it and Bush and Rove followed suit, and he beat the drum for war relentlessly and we followed that so he must be some sort of neo con savant. Did Rumsfeld spit comb his hair cause he had sort of the same hair motif going on? Aren't they just the greatest bunch of guys?

This is a good moment to recall that Wolfowitz is among the supporters of Leo Strauss, the totalitarian political thinker who has been such a strong influence on the current wave of conservative leadership in Washington. For this crowd, the people are far too dumb to know what is good for them; it is necessary for the ":wise men" to lead them; such is the credulity of the people that to lead them it is necessary to feed them high sounding lies on one hand and stampede them with fears and alarms on the other. So lies are a vital part of governance, what is good is what is considered good by those who govern but are themselves above the law.(like giving a job that is not earned to a girl friend, or turning the World Bank into a profit center)) and the stuff of leadership is formenting small manageable wars and a continuing series of fake crises.
Kind of fits Wolfowitz, shows where the arrogance comes from, and shows most of all how wrong it is to along people to take leadership positions who believe they are above the law.

What a load of crap. This is a political witch hunt.

Wolfowitz did nothing more than what the ethics board asked him to do. He shouldn't resign, his cowardly lying incompetent thieving critics should.

it looks like his only crime was to try to clean up a very corrupt organization. like bolton in the un he was shaking the tree of corruption. members of the wb did not want to see their realm destroyed. when will we wake up and see that members of the eu are playing us like a violin in all these mutual organizations.

looking at it in different point of views bottom line is he did break the rule. the influence he exerted to promote her girlfriend is tantamount to conflict of interest. he should be charge with abuse of power. ifhis girlfrienddeservesthe promotion let the commitee do the recommendation. enough is enough go pack your bag paul.

Is it 2008 yet?

Another draft-dodging Republican coward bites the dust.

Since this behaviour is so pervasive at the world bank why should Mr Wolfowicz recieve any punishment ? Particularly since bank admins approved his handling of the situation befor all of the publicity. When called on their actions, publicly, they all lost their spines and scrambled like the rats that they are. Yet another reason to abolish ngos and their ilk, moral cowardice and greed.

And this.."Actually the Lancet's Oct 2006 figure of 650,000 deaths was reasonable and conversative some time ago. It's probably more accurate to say 700,000 to 800,000 at this point"..has been exposed as a lie, repeatedly. But. then, you should also lament the millions of people executed by the hysteria and lies about DDT, should you have any honor that is.

Finally this "he got the U.S. to invade a country that was a pain-in-the-neck BUT not a threat."...you must be a "progressive"...not even the donks thought this in 1998-2002, and, indicated as much in the media, repeatedly. As is so common with "progressives" there is no desire or will to fight for anything just talk and hope that it will come to pass. There is a sure strategy for failure and defeat.Only a "progressive" would commend a population back into the hell of tyranny and brag about it. Mighty brave of you to do that which you wouldn't wish on you or yours. Next "progressive" idiot please.

He never had any qualfications for the WorldBank to begin with - just an Iraq war crony, showing that he will screw up wherever he goes.

Whay should he save face, he did wrong he should be fired with no retirement.What in the world is wrong with al of the government people They can really spend other people's money. It will be a pleasure to die and get out of the world

looking at it in different point of views bottom line is he did break the rule. the influence he exerted to promote her girlfriend is tantamount to conflict of interest. he should be charge with abuse of power. if his girlfriend deserves the promotion let the commitee do the recommendation. enough is enough go pack your bag paul.

I hope the people who are disparaging Paul Wolfowitz' tenure at the world bank and misrepresenting -- again -- his "role" in this "fiasco" never find themselves at the wrong end of a putsch, because the facts in this case are very clear, they are on paper and there is a demonstrable trail of evidence from the Ethics Committee of the World Bank itself that exonerates him of any wrongdoing in this matter whatsoever.

Not only have the reflextive haters spun their contrafactual fantasies to justify their bile, they refuse to even honestly examine the facts. This is probably the single worst example of an institution flying off the rails that has ever happened, and it's a terrible stain on the World Bank.

Philosophically, perhaps Paul Wolfowitz shouldn't be too unhappy to leave. Regrettably, the people who orchestrated this miscarriage of justice and evidence are getting away scot-free.

God what a bunch of shmoes at the World Bank. If I were him I wouldn't quit and would dare them to do anything about it the way they are acting.

It is obvious there are two laws:

For the underlings you show up for work, your name is taken off the door, your stuff is in a cardboard box and security escorts you to the door without explanation.

For the bosses they find ways for them to resign and save face.

Baloney!

Unfortunately, the members of the Ethics Committee are all gone with the exception of one - who still represents his country on the Bank's Board, but is no longer a member of the Ethics Committee....

Whoa to you brood of vipers, who call evil good and good evil!

The WSJ's thoughtless water-carrying for Woflman noted above is obscene. This is the guy that dressed down General
Shenseki for his honest and realstic estimates of troops needed to secure Iraq. His arrogance knows no bounds and his incompetence is utterly well established. Let him fnd a home at Booz Allen with his pal Dov Zakheim. That place is full of streetwalkers prancing in high priced threads.

Save face?....again a member of the Bush mob assuming the American people are stupid. This man has no face to save...he is a slimmy,incompetent, corrupt little man who will quickly fade from memory - except as a vague lingering sense of nausea. Good riddance.

It is really a shame that someone as accomplished as Wolfowitz does something so incredibly stupid - thinking with the little head. It is ironic that his agenda was to clean up bank corruption and yet (perhaps not surprisingly) he is himself corrupt. I think the World Bank is much like the UN - an outdated bureaucracy that does nothing but undercut U.S. interests and WASTE money. The World Bank absolutely is corrupt and really should be abolished along with Wolfowitz's career.

Not that it matters, but he did not 'seek a promotion and pay raise for his girlfriend at the bank'.

Of course, the alternate reality that old media and its viewers (well represented here I see) live in wouldn't permit a thing like truth to pervade it.

Doesn't "save face" translate into a great retirement/benefits package?

Hey LTO,

Wolfowitz has no idea what he's doing, therefore nobody should benefit from his lack of focus, integrity, honesty and complete absence of character. There's a reason this world is a mess and people the likes of Wolfie and his gang of wolves are the reason. They care but for dominance, control, power and wealth AND THAT'S IT.

He and his PNAC buddies have royally destroyed America's reputation (not to mention being personally responsible for the deaths of over 3,000 US soldiers and almost a half million dead Iraqis) and he personally was working in the World Bank for his international banker buddies and corporate cronies ONLY; no favors were done for down-trodden nations in the least.

He is of the OLD WORLD, which is being torn down; how ironic that he resides within the realm of the old world when he and his are constantly talking about tearing down the old "ways" and rebuilding them...LOL

People leave jobs every day to comply with company rules prohibiting couples from working together. The media has dropped the ball yet again in failing to point out the false argument that Riza had some realstic chance to sue the Bank for enforcng its own rules and demanding common sense and decency (a nearly 50k pay increase, get real). The Bushies are among the most spoiled, entitled bunch of incompetents this side of Saudi.

To the person who says, "What the heck does Wolfowitz even know about economics and international monetary policy?"

Well, I think he may have learned a thing or two about the subjects when he earned his PhD in Political Science and Economics from the University of Chicago.

If you criticize the guy, please show some intelligence and well-thought comments... as opposed to mindless rhetoric.

It appears to me that the World Bank wanted to get rid of Wolfowitz due to his connection with the Bush administration and the Iraq war. This is just an excuse that they inartfully used to oust him.

Wolfowitz! What a wimp! Now he is blaming his girlfriend's temper for his giving her a huge pay raise. Shows that he has no backbone ot accept the blame for his actions, resign, and move on.

We have an opening.....Maybe Wolfie would take up the post of University president....

What a joke. Anyone who has followed this knows Wolfowitz did nothing wrong and is getting totally railroaded. The US should tell the world bank where to stick it. better yet, I can't wit to hear who the President appoints to replace Wolfowitz. I have heard Volker which would really put the corrupt Europeans in an uproar.

This is the man who keeps his hair in place by spitting on his comb before he uses it.

Am I the only person in the U.S. who actually reads? Wolfowitz, like him or hate him, is right. His girlfriend had a job with the WB before he was hired.

Knowing his relationship would be a problem, he informed the ethics committee of his potential for a conflict of interest. The ethics committee agreed but asked that his girlfriend be reassigned to avoid any 'appearance' of a conflict.

She was reassigned and received a raise (she was due for a raise anyway).

This whole thing is a tempest in a teapot. She is eminently qualified for her position. They followed procedures to the letter.

The 'establishment' at the WB wants things to stay as they are (read, corrupt and ineffective). Wolfowitz threatened their easy life.

Perhaps exit strategy means: we will give you some more money to keep quiet and not tattle on where the rest of the other world bank members and administrations "bodies" are buried. In some circles it is called extortion and blackmail.
(mistresses, slush funds etc.)
Meanwhile families in the US and Iraq etc are literally burying bodies.
Forget sending Wolfie to Iraq send him to Sudan.

Can't wait to hear of Bush's nomination for Wolfie's replacement, Alberto Gonzales...

Of course he never should have been appointed in the first place. Instead of going to the World Bank he should have been sent to the special place in Hell reserved for evil warmongers.

Abe, learn a little something about the story before commenting please. Who are the people causing this stink? Oh yeah, the Europeans.

The world been crying wolf(owitz) since the Iraq occupation. Finally his deeds caught up to him. Don't worry about his financial position. Within month he'd be on some corporate board or lobbying Congress for some weapons manufacturer. You can bet on that

I want to know who of our actual leaders can claim they have not used their influence to get someone hired, a promotion or a salary raise? Sad example nonetheless. WB is just an example of how many of these institutions are being swallowed by bureaucracy, corruption and inefficiency, while many die of hunger and/or hatred around the world.

Angry mob: Don't let facts stand in the way of your venomous, Kos-kid tantrums.

How very true the rich can get away with anything letting him save face he should be stripped of his bonus,pension for what he did this whould set an example to all .

Well, the corrupt technocrats have gotten their way. This was an orchestrated coup against Wolfowitz. What a joke.

Apart from his problems with the World Bank, Wolfowitz should be fired for moral turpitude related to his hyping of the Iraq threat and deliberate understating the difficulties of the war. Someone with a background like that cannot have the credibility the World Bank needs.

Any world government body is corrupt, period. Now, guess who is going to have huge influence over the bank now? The one and only clean as a whistle George Soros. Yep, the Left's savior. And you know it all Leftist's out there, where was this outrage over Kofi Anan, The Oil for Food and The UN rape allegations? Guess we missed them. Selective outrage is so convienant. Go away.

Chalk up another victory for George Soros and his nutty friends on the left. All Wolfowitz did was FOLLOW THE ADVICE THE W.B. BOARD GAVE HIM. Now he's being run out of town on a rail to appease the America-haters.

Wow this thread has a ton of wolfowitz/wb experts doesn't it. First point on, incompetency, who in this thread has more education and experience that wolfie. He was so stupid and uneducated that he was a professor at yale. Secondly how is getting caught up in an ethics scandal the same as competence. For all you dems out there yall thought clinton was still competent even if he was sexual unethical and lied about it. Never convicted of crime but admitted to lying to investigators (just like libby). Third who in this post has even met the man. I see wild accusations about him as if some posters grew up with him, but i seriously doubt that is the case. Lastly, can any of you wolfie haters even name his position in the Bush administration with out looking it up on Wiki... I seriously doubt it.

Could the World Bank come up with a "face-saving" policy for the U.S. to get out of Iraq?

Wolfowitz has the gall to claim that nobody has ever questioned his honesty or integrity. In fact, whatever reputation he might once have had for honesty and integrity was destroyed after he pushed bogus "intelligence" to justify his bloody and unnecessary war in Iraq. Paul Wolfowitz is a proven liar and, we now know, corrupt as well. That he was ever allowed to become World Bank president was a scandal in the first place. That he has been allowed to remain in that post this long raises serious questions about the credibility of the World Bank. A "face saving" solution? Why do we care about his being allowed to save face? The man is a war criminal; he belongs behind bars, not at the head of a supposedly respectable international organization.

It's amazing how the Bush Haters will stick their dribble into any topic. How many people died in World War 2 ? How many civilians ?

Is it possible that this was a put up job by the bush admin. The aim is to paralyse international institutions. So you put John Bolten in the UN and you put Wolfie in the world bank and then you create kerfuffle and they come to a grinding halt.

I hope the World Bank gets a disclaimer that it agrees to the Committe having some responsibility. You can be damn sure Woliwitz will have his lawyers working up a lawsuit ASAP to get millions in compensation. Bet on it!

Even Tobias had more shame; and he mangaged to get a massage as well!

Paul Wolfowitz is shamelessly trying to save more than his "face", as another embarrassing US endorsement of the neo-cons behind the Bush administration crumbles. Mr. Wolfowitz and the rest of his neo-con klan have much more to worry about if the world-court decides to examine their involvement with starting the War in Iraq. As defined by the courts in Nuremberg in 1947, the Germans who participated in architecting World War II were found guilty of:

1. Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of crime against peace.

2. Planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression and other crimes against peace.

When he is forced to resign, his reputation along with the reputations of his co-conspirators that willingly participated in the planning of a war which has already killed over 650,000 people, will be severely tarnished. Good luck Mr. Wolfowitz!

A year later she dumps him.
Women plan what they want from men, in the begining of the relationship.
Men always do stupid things for women, and then later say, what the heck was I thinking "with".
They offer sex for money and material things. They dont want prince charming anymore. They want his money, his house and his horse. Eventually they get his job as well. Dummies.