In Re the Combsucker's Woes

Abu Spinoza (an alias) reminds us that Wolfowitz' war crimes responsibilities are being overlooked in light of his World Bank crimes. Of course, the Combsucker isn't the only one whose war crimes are being overlooked.

But this isn't a post about Iraq war crimes, so...

Early reports held that several African finance ministers were coming to Wolfowitz' defense with high praise for him. Apparently, there are some who don't quite see it that way.

"Don't try to make Africa his saving grace," Njoki Njoroge Njehu, Executive Director of Nairobi-based Daughters of Mumbi Global Resource Center, told 50 Years is Enough. "The impact of the World Bank's policy impositions of the last 20 years still devastates us every day."

[...]

Nita Evele, a Washington-based activist from the Democratic Republic of Congo, said, "Corruption and the World Bank, corruption and Paul Wolfowitz: these are not new, and are not limited to his girlfriend. Congolese in the U.S. protested outside the Bank on Saturday – a protest that called for Wolfowitz's resignation. But our initial and overriding purpose was to call attention to the way the World Bank, under Wolfowitz's direction, has facilitated the turning over of our country's vast mineral resources to multinational corporations for a song.

  AllAfrica.com article

Indeed, that, I believe fulfills the unstated mission of the World Bank.

SAIC, a cauldron of slimy dealing itself (see previous posts), is distancing itself from Wolfowitz, saying that the Defense Department's policy division "directed" SAIC to hire the Combsucker's girlfriend Shaha Riza as a consultant. (Rats in a cage syndrome?)

As to whether WB General Counsel Ana Palacio (whose immediate response to the accusation against Wolfowitz regarding Ms. Riza's outrageous fortune since the Combsucker took over as president was to call for the head of the leaker) can perform an unbiased investigation, several WB staffers think not. I'd say they're probably right, considering that Ms. Palacio is also a Wolfowitz appointee. At any rate, there's a lengthy intranet discussion amongst WB staffers (here in aspx format) with several comments about Palacio and Riza's friendship. One comment from April 10 states:

Ms. Ana Palacio and Ms. Shaha Riza are personal friends, call each other on the cell phone, have dinner regularly, and see each other socially. Should Ms. Palacio be in charge of the investigation? My take is no. I urge the Board to consider the above information, for the credibility of this Institution.

Apparently, the rotten stench of the investigation goes even deeper than Ms. Palacio.

[R]eports are circulating that Williams & Connolly LLP, the law firm World Bank General Counsel Ana Palacio hired to investigate the leak of Board documents to Fox News earlier this year, has close ties to Paul Wolfowitz. "On April 12 staff learned that Robert Barnett, a lawyer at Williams & Connolly LLP, is Paul Wolfowitz's personal lawyer," the blog wolfowitzmustresign has posted.

  Bank Information Center post

And finally, amongst the WB staffer comments on the Bank's intranet site, there's this gem:

if the [bank's] president stopped shooting himself in the foot that often...he would not have that many holes in his socks.

AP photo

Paul Wolfowitz playing the Wolfowitz Blues
on a Wolfowitz Harmonica
- aka a comb

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

What Time Is It?

I think it's high time we did a little speculating, like every other two-bit blogger.

Somebody at the World Bank landed on YWA yesterday while Googling "ana palacio" "world bank" and "opus dei". What could be going on there?

When I first saw the World Bank address, I figured it would have something to do with Wolfowitz' woes in having gotten his lady friend a cushy, high-paying job. But then I saw the search keywords and was puzzled.

I never posted anything on Ana Palacio, nor on the World Bank in connection with Opus Dei. The old post (2004) that landed the WB on YWA had only a slight reference to Opus Dei, and none to Ana Palacio or the World Bank. (Who can figure Google?)

So, my curiosity is piqued.

I did a little Googling myself, and found that Ana Palacio is a recently appointed Senior Vice-President and General Counsel to the World Bank. Appointed by the old combsucker himself. So what could that mean? Somebody at the World Bank is trying to find other instances where Wolfie might have installed a lady friend? Trying to find evidence to support him or trash him? I'd guess trash if they're searching a connection with Opus Dei, which would imply trashing Ms. Palacio as well. But who knows? Maybe it's only about Ms. Palacio and has nothing to do with the combsucker, although the timing is a bit suspicious for that.

I guess we'll wait and watch and see if the name of Ana Palacio surfaces in any of the oncoming scandalization/investigation of the Wolfowitz saga.

....but hey, you do what you want....you will anyway.

Update: OOOps! I've been slacking! Ana Palacio is the investigator in charge of the Wolfowitz affair. But, of course, the plot thickens:

The bank’s 24 executive directors — representatives of the countries that own it — said last week they “have decided to acquire all the information related to this matter and will respond to the issues raised as soon as possible.” The executive directors asked World Bank General Counsel Ana Palacio, a Wolfowitz appointee and former Spanish foreign minister, to handle the inquiry.

  WSJ article

Now, why would someone at the Bank be Googling Ms. Palacio in connection with Opus Dei? Hm? That changes my guess to looking for support of Wolfowitz by trashing Palacio. Unless Wolfowitz is Opus Dei, and ....

This is why I don't deal much in speculation. I'm not too good at it.

Update 2 : Here's a little background on the rumblings that have been going on at the WB over Wolfowitz' (mis)management. It was written a year ago. Apparently he took the Bush Administration's operational manual with him when Bush set him up there. And why wouldn't he?

At the World Bank, they are sometimes referred to as "the entourage," "the palace guard," or "the circle of trust," because of their close relationship with bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz. They are Americans with ties to the Bush administration, and the immense clout they wield has sparked a furor in the ranks of the giant development leader.

And there's this from a couple of days ago:

The churn continues at the World Bank. General Counsel Ana Palacio, who's investigating how bank President Paul Wolfowitz's girlfriend, Shaha Riza, got whopping raises as she was being detailed to the State Department, took time out late Monday to announce that she is also launching a leak investigation.

[...]

"These disclosures of confidential internal communications violated Bank policy," Palacio said an e-mail posted on the bank's internal site. "The Bank is taking these violations very seriously."

  WaPo article

Very Bushian. Suspect acivity? Bring me the head of the person who leaked it.

So I'm back to speculating that the Googler is looking to trash Ms. Palacio and claim she can't possibly be impartial in her investigation of Wolfowitz' "practices". And would probably be right about that.

Update : Or, trying to see what's out there about Ms. Palacio and Opus Dei so it can be scrubbed. Ay-yi-yi. I give up.