Wolfowitz finds another paper to support him. Until now the Wall Street Journal was one of the few newspapers to editorialize in defense of Wolfowitz, a phenomenon attributed to its long-term, intimate ties with the man and the Bush Administration. Now the Chicago Tribune has joined in, touting a similar line of defense: people who love corruption and the idle habits of World Bank staff are out to tear down a man who dares to challenge the status quo by employing "a classic manufactured scandal."

The staggering exhibition of ignorance by the Tribune -- they even manage to refer to Riza, consistently, as "Raza" -- recalls the paper's "rock-ribbed Republican" stances of the 1970s (yes, I will admit it, I'm from Chicago). In recent years it seemed to have improved a bit. Maybe the current owners are getting their last licks in before they sell it to real estate investors.

Although it's hardly alone in making the error, somehow the Tribune manages to sound more sanctimonious (and ignorant, again) in maintaining that Wolfowitz introduced the idea of going after "the debilitating virus" of corruption at the World Bank. It was, of course, James Wolfensohn who did that, and he was hardly quiet about it (I think it was him who went beyond the Tribune and called it "the cancer of corruption," no?)

Soren Ambrose ~ April 17, 2007

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Recent Rumours

Zoellick bearhug photo.
Like old times: Zoellick and Lamy
Another middle aged white American for the World Bank !
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It's (un)Official: Zoellick
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UPI: Wolfowitz Replacement This Week
UK involvement in the Foundation for the Future.

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