The Wolfowitz story at the moment: he's heading toward the door. It appears that the White House is not going to make a stand for one of the chief architects of the Iraq war. Here's what Bloomberg is reporting:

The Bush administration and World Bank directors are negotiating President Paul Wolfowitz's departure from the world's biggest aid agency, said two bank officials.

German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul today repeated that Wolfowitz should quit in order to restore the credibility of the bank. Asked if Wolfowitz would attend a forum on Africa in Berlin on May 21-22, she said: "I would advise him not to do so.'' Wieczorek-Zeul is hosting the forum as part of Germany's presidency of the Group of Eight leading nations.

The tide appears to be too strong--even for the most stubborn swimmers at the White House. Yesterday, Wolfowitz met with the Bank's board of directors and pleaded for his job. He tried to pin part of the blame for the controversy over the generous compensation package for his girlfriend on other Bank officials, claiming they had supplied him bad advice. He did not concede the point suggested by the board panel that investigated the deal: he and Shaha Riza, his girlfriend, had taken financial advantage of the situation. (See here..) Instead, Wolfowitz promised to be a better manager. (Better than he was when he oversaw the run-up to the Iraq invasion and the subsequent war?)

As the news accounts come out today, it seems that promise was not enough. Wolfowitz has been done in by his own actions--regarding a dame. (Imagine the Paul-Shaha pillow talk these days--if they're still talking.) True, many at the Bank were gunning for him. But no one (except maybe Riza) made him give his gal-pal a lucrative deal that broke the rules. Wolfowitz previously escaped accountability for his world-changing misrepresentations and misjudgments about Iraq. Now he's being hammered for mundane corruption. Justice can be a bitch.

Posted by David Corn at May 16, 2007 03:29 PM