Leaks and counter-leaks: more on report findings. Greg Hitt and Neil King Jr. have several interesting insights into the still secret board committee report on the Wolfowitz case. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, they summarise their understanding of the committee's findings and look ahead to the conclusions of this sorry saga.

Their assessment of the evidence starts with trying to shift the focus away from Paul Wolfowitz. They say the board sub-committee's report: "suggests that the board's Ethics Committee could have been clearer in its communications with Mr. Wolfowitz. It also finds that the contracts of two top Wolfowitz aides, Robin Cleveland and Kevin Kellems, were generous but generally within bank norms. Critics have raised questions about pay arrangements for those individuals".

But, they add: "still, the weight of the findings -- which include some 600 pages of supporting documents -- was against Mr. Wolfowitz. They offer a broad indictment of his actions on behalf of Ms. Riza, alleging that he violated terms of his contract and the bank's code of conduct. The report suggests that he should have left details to others, and that he should have simply gone back to the board for further guidance, instead of moving on his own".

On the question of how the Wolfowitz judgement is being reached and messaged, Hitt and King reach different conclusion from their colleagues writing on the Wall Street Journal editorial page today The Journal's featured article editorial complains that the Bank board committee "leaked its guilty verdict to the Washington Post before Mr. Wolfowitz even had a chance to plead his case". Hitt and King inform their readers that the board committee report: "flags concern with the extensive public statements made by Mr. Wolfowitz and others about what the board regarded as a confidential administrative proceeding. The report says Mr. Wolfowitz's public comments resulted in the institution being seen in a negative light, which undermined staff morale, and was inconsistent with his obligation as president to maintain high standards of integrity."

Greg Hitt, in another piece elsewhere on the WSJ site, goes further along this line. He says the report is very critical of Wolfowitz communications aide Kevin Kellems (forced to announce his resignation on Monday), and says "the report complains that the combative public statements released by Mr. Wolfowitz in the last two weeks have turned what should have been a private administrative proceeding into a bitter public-relations battle, pitting the president against the bank's board".

Our readers will have to make up their own mind about how much of the report's full findings and evidence we are really in a position to know already. But very soon we should be beyond the selective briefings and be able to review the full text for ourself. At the moment there are major differences on such simple matters as the length of the report - Hitt and King say 50 pages, as opposed to 300 mentioned elsewhere.

Thanks to TH for his assiduous work to draw attention to and make available this piece.

Alex Wilks ~ May 09, 2007

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