The Arrogance of Paul Wolfowitz

Since the old combsucker left DoD for the World Bank, he hasn't been in such public view, and therefore, many of us have tended to put him out of our minds. Now that he's back in the media viewfinder, we get to take a fresh look at his egregious behavior as it was back then and continues (and why should we imagine it would be otherwise?). Sidney Blumenthal reminds us of his litany of offenses (the least of which may be "grandiosity, cronyism, self-dealing and lying ") in a Salon article.

Blumenthal reminds us that SAIC (the company getting megabuck contracts from the US government) was ordered by Wolfowitz underling Doug Feith to give a contract to Wolfowitz girlfriend Shaha Riza, and points out that Riza, a British citizen, was given access to areas that require a security clearance in the US government, without having been given that clearance, and without even the special qualifications necessary to receive one (which, I suppose is why she didn't have one) - an unprecedented move. (Clever WB staffers have donned Riza: Wolfowitz' "neoconcubine".)

It turns out that the old combsucker not only got Riza her new job at State with her fantastic salary, but part of the deal was that in her job reviews, her performance would automatically be "outstanding". The position she was given was with Liz Cheney (yes, the daughter of Himself), and Karen Hughes (Texan, W's communications czarina while he was governor and counselor during his presidency).

Wolfowitz insulated himself at the World Bank from the career staff. There, as at the Pentagon, Wolfowitz pushed aside the professionals and replaced them with a small band of politically reliable assistants. Wolfowitz rewarded them, too, on his own authority, with enormous tax-free salaries.

Standard operating procedure for the New Lords of World Order, sometimes referred to as Bushies.

Consider Kevin Kellems, his public affairs officer at the Pentagon, who had guided conservative media from that perch and is known as "keeper of the comb," for having been the person to hand Wolfowitz the infamous comb he licked before slicking down his hair in the Michael Moore film "Fahrenheit 9/11." Kellems was given a salary of $240,000, at least equal to what World Bank vice presidents with years of service earn.

Nice work, if you can get it.