Soros v. Wolfowitz

Leading elite candidate to replace Wolfie? Mark Malloch Brown. Kofi Annan's deputy --the guy who thought the oil-for-spoils debacle wasn't worth talking about and George Soros' hedge fund manager. Bankies want him instead of Wolfowitz, and that's why the committee trying to force Wolfie out dropped a 600 pp. document in his lap and gave him 48 hours to respond (itself a violation of bank rules, as the Journal points out).

This is the same kangaroo court that last month leaked its guilty verdict to the Washington Post before Mr. Wolfowitz even had a chance to plead his case. Our sources who have seen the committee's report tell us it is especially critical of Mr. Wolfowitz for daring to object publicly to the committee's methods and thereby bringing the bank's name into disrepute. The Europeans running this Red Queen proceeding prefer that they be able to smear with selective leaks without rebuttal.

Mr. Malloch Brown warned on Monday that, if Mr. Wolfowitz stayed as president,European countries might withhold funding from the next financing round for the bank's International Development Association. We hope he's right, though we know few European finance ministers who aren't eager to throw good money after bad. Still, it's a remarkable bit of chutzpah for the man who downplayed corruption at the U.N. to seek the ouster of the man who has fought to reduce corruption at the World Bank.

The full story on the Wolfowitz smear gets worse the more it's revealed, and still no one but the Wall Street Journal gives a hoot. This is a coup attempt. I agree with WSJ's conclusion:

If the Bush Administration now abandons Mr. Wolfowitz as he faces a decision from the bank's board of governors, it will not only betray a friend but hand the biggest victory yet to its audacious enemies in the George Soros axis.

I don't see the Admin making any noise that it's abandoning Wolfie (that WaPo story hints ever-so-slightly that the board's having trouble getting votes to oust him). But where is Wolfie's support in the alternative media? Where's the counter-pressure? Quit snarking on the way-too-early-presidential campaigns for ten seconds and focus on something that matters.

Update: in comments, someone argues Conservatives aren't interested in Wolfie's fate because they hate the Bank, and points me to George Will's column this morning saying it's time to close it down. I'm all for that, but allowing Wolfie to be calumnied and the Bank to revert to its previous sick management is not any kind of solution. If you want the Bank closed, let Wolfie stay and clean it up, forcing all the elites to withdraw in protest as they're threatening.