Departure of the Wolf

The Wolf is finally leaving through the back door, not running, but slowly sneaking out in search of his next victim. Never mind that Paul Wolfowitz will still be receiving his royal salary for another one and a half months as the sheepish lame duck president of the World Bank. And according to his contract – which he himself breached – he is still entitled to a full year's salary. That's how the World Bank is helping the poor!

This is indeed a messy shit-pool in which everybody involved lost a lot of face. It could have been avoided by not appointing Wolfowitz to head the World Bank in the first place, but of course George W. Bush is genetically predestined to only do stupid and criminal things and if possible at all, preferably stupidly criminal or criminally stupid things.

The World Bank's staff and most member countries of the World Bank opposed his nomination, but were to weak to prevent it. The staff could have walked out and the European governments could have launched a boycott, but they were too weak to do either. Now the World Bank's reputation is irredeemably damaged. As one of the two pillars (the other being the IMF) of the Capitalist World Order it is a good time to abolish it altogether, serving no other purpose but to pay extravagantly lavish salaries to bureaucrats, eating up ever more money that could have gone to the poor to help them help themselves. (The Wall Street Journal: World Bank Jobbery, Wolfowitz's Support Diminishes) (The Guardian: Angry Wolfowitz in four-letter tirade) (The Washington Post: World-Class Mess) (CNN: Wolfowitz to resign as World Bank chief) (Ther New York Times: For Wolfowitz, a 2nd Chance Dissolves Into Failure)

The Wolf implored the World Bank Board to be fair. As co-architect of the Iraq war, did he ever show an ounce of fairness to the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis tortured and murdered as a result of what he started, following the mixing of a cocktail of lethal lies to justify the unjustifiable?

The World Bank Board should have fired Wolfowitz on the spot, but it allowed him to resign and continue to plunder the bank for another one and a half months. He totally and completely lost the trust of his staff as perhaps no CEO experienced before him. It is worth quoting from the World Bank Group Staff Association's statement: “While Mr. Wolfowitz has finally done the necessary thing by resigning, he has damaged the institution and continues to damage it every day that he remains as its president. He has demeaned the Bank, insulted the staff, diminished its clients, and dragged this institution through the mud. [The World Bank Board has] “attempted to save his face and in so doing have destroyed that of the institution that they are entrusted to protect.” Pretty strong stuff, actually Maotai-grade.

Now, his girlfriend Shaha Riza, who got the illegal pay rise so her salary exceeded that of her new boss Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, is also angry. Hypocrisy galore! The poor should be angry for the money spent in their names. Riza received a pay rise to USD193,000 – tax free – compared to Rice's USD186,000 before tax.

What will happen to Riza? Will she also be dismissed? Forced to pay back her ill-gotten money? She knew she was the recipient of an illegal pay rise orchestrated by her boyfriend and happily pocketed the money. Now she is acting like an innocent victim. What a shameless charade! A Muslim and a feminist? No, a deceptive outer shell, disguising an inner neocon core like her conservative Zionist boyfriend.

What will the Wolf do next? Quietly retire or prowl for another prey? Dismissed from the World Bank, is that it? War criminal Paul Wolfowitz should be dragged blind-folded in a orange coverall to stand trial in an International War Crimes Tribunal. And Shaha Riza should be put in the cell next door, accused of consorting with a war criminal, condoning mass murder and stealing from the poor.