Media at its worst in Wolfowitz non scandal

Christopher Hitchens:

"We know no spectacle so ridiculous," wrote Macaulay about the vilification of Lord Byron, "as the British public in one of its periodical fits of morality." Change the word "ridiculous" to "contemptible," and the words "British public" to "American press," and you have some sense of the eagerness for prurience, the readiness for slander, and the utter want of fact-checking that have characterized Paul Wolfowitz and Shaha Riza as if they were not only the equivalent of Byron seducing his half-sister, but as if they were financing their shameless lasciviousness out of the public purse and the begging bowls of the wretched of the earth.

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It is scarcely Riza's fault that she was working in a senior position at the World Bank when Wolfowitz was gazetted as its president. And quite frankly, if I were he, or indeed she, I would have challenged anyone to make anything of it. Of very few other people working there could it so obviously be said that she held her post as of right, and on merit. But we all think we know about "the appearance of a conflict of interest," and so I would like you to read what the general counsel to the bank, Robert Danino, wrote to Wolfowitz's lawyers on May 27, 2005. His letter opens like this:

First, I would like to acknowledge that Mr. Wolfowitz has disclosed to the Board, through you, that he has a pre-existing relationship with a Bank staff member, and that he proposes to resolve the conflict of interest in relation to Staff Rule 3.01, Paragraph 4.02 by recusing himself from all personnel matters and professional contact related to the staff member.

Instead of settling the matter, this disclosure and plain offer on Wolfowitz's part has become the source of all his woes. It was decided by the board of the bank and the "ethics committee" that the board established, that for no reason except a private relationship, Riza had to leave her work at the bank. Feminists and opponents of the glass ceiling should begin paying attention here.

Perhaps uneasily aware that their decision involved an injustice to someone who was highly esteemed and shortlisted for promotion (and whose job was located a long way away from any decision-making by the bank's president), the ethics committee suggested that an upgrade at Riza's new job might be in order, perhaps also "as part of settlement of claims," to be accompanied by "an ad hoc salary increase." On July 27, the committee's chairman, Dutch politician Ad Melkert, sent a memo to Wolfowitz assuring him that "the potential disruption of the staff member's career prospect will be recognized by an in situ promotion on the basis of her qualifying record."

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There is more.

Ruth Wedgwood in an LA Times Op-Ed also joins in condemning this gratuitous and unseemly attack on honest people. One has to suspect that the attack was intended as a hit job on Paul Wolfowitz because of his policy positions on Iraq while in the Defense Department. He is a very intelligent and honest man and he does not deserve this treatment, nor does his friends and associates. This is just another example of the viciousness of the angry left and its media accomplices. It is encouraging to see that there are a few with integrity.