When The Inconceivable Becomes The Norm

The internal committee of the World Bank has issued its report on Paul Wolfowitz and, according to the Los Angeles Times, it is a damning one.

World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz violated his contract, broke the bank's code of conduct and trampled on numerous staff rules in arranging a promotion and a series of raises for his companion, a bank employee, according to a scathing report by an internal committee investigating the controversy.

Citing "the damage done to the reputation of the World Bank Group and to that of the president," the seven-member committee recommended that the institution's board "consider whether Mr. Wolfowitz will be able to provide the leadership needed to ensure that the bank continues to operate to the fullest extent possible" in its mission to fight world poverty.

The report, delivered to the board and released Monday evening, also skewered Wolfowitz for "questionable judgment and a preoccupation with self-interest over institutional best interest."

What CEO would even consider staying on with that kind of assessment? Well, Mr. Wolfowitz, for one, but then he is acting true to form for a Bush Administration appointee. It certainly helps his cause that the White House continues to back the man who used his position to transfer his girlfriend to a post in the State Department with a raise that made her better paid than the Secretary of State.

"Paul is one of the most able public servants I've ever known, and I've worked with him a lot over the years," Vice President Dick Cheney told Fox News during a visit Monday to Aqaba, Jordan. "I think he's a very good president of the World Bank, and I hope he will be able to continue."

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. contacted colleagues from Group of Seven countries "and expressed that he does not think the facts merit dismissal," a department official said.

"A clear reading of the facts in this report demonstrates that this was a unique situation, missteps occurred on all sides, and communication may not have been clear enough," the official said.

The White House had appealed unsuccessfully to the committee to delay sending its report to the board so that administration officials could do "a little internal reporting" on it, said White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto.

Mr. Wolfowitz has just been busted for an egregious lapse of ethics (and this is a bank president, keep in mind) and the US Treasury Secretary doesn't think this merits dismissal? The Vice President thinks Mr. Wolfowitz has been a very good bank president? Unbelievable.

At this point, Mr. Wolfowitz cannot possibly be an effective World Bank president: the bank employees hate and distrust him, the board of directors believe he engaged in unethical conduct, his investors are busy distancing themselves from the whole operation. Yet the White House continues to insist he be allowed to stay on.

One can only conclude that the White House believes that the World Bank, like the federal agencies here at home, is simply an administration toy: to be played with for all it is worth, and then broken when it ceases to amuse.