A well known US conservative paper joins increasing calls for Wolfowitz's resignation. The Washington Times, a consistently conservative paper that usually reflects the views of many republicans in the US capital, surprised many in Washington DC and the World Bank with its editorial this morning "Unacceptable impropriety"......

The editorial argues that "Wolfowitz defenders argue that his transgressions were unwitting, resulting from an effort to work in good faith and follow the direction of the ethics committee, and were subsequently misrepresented by a subjective presentation in the press"

It then goes on to say " This defense is based on documents released by the World Bank at Mr. Wolfowitz's insistence, but it overlooks several key aspects of the story. Mr. Wolfowitz did not intend to fully recuse himself from matters pertaining to Miss Riza. A letter from the bank's general counsel suggested Mr. Wolfowitz's willingness to do so, but an e-mail response to that letter from Mr. Wolfowitz's lawyer, reported in The Washington Post, clearly rejects it: the proposed resolution "WOULD NOT -- I REPEAT, NOT -- INVOLVE RECUSAL FROM PROFESSIONAL CONTACT" with Miss Riza."

The editorial then concludes that "..combating corruption in developing countries is central to the World Bank's function, and because he engaged in the kind of political favoritism his organization seeks to root out, Mr. Wolfowitz can't advance that goal, nor will he easily resurrect his reputation. His leadership has been rendered ineffective. The only honorable choice is to resign."

A Washington source ~ April 18, 2007

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