Oh I agree that the World Bank Board may have despised Wolfowitz. They made that clear in subjecting him to their kangaroo court.

My guess is that the only good World Bank Presiednt is someone who will be despised by that Board.

And, if the World Bank Board was lying through its teeth when it said that they accepted Wolfowitz's assertion that he had done nothing wrong, well then that is for them to live with and explain. I am certain that Wolfowitz was being straight when he said he had done nothing wrong.

I presume that the World Bank Board members will never, ever again discuss this matter. I hope that there are no restraints on Wolfowitz's discussion of the settlement. Because I am looking forward to the Wolfowitz book about his time at the World Bank.

OMG. That is so funny. Slate's Bush-hater-in chief, Fred Kaplan (husband of NPR's Brooke Galdstone), giving us the Wolfowitz story.

I see he devoted all of about one sentence to the merits of the allegations concerning the employment of Shaha Riza. And at that, he hardly made any kind of a case that the Shaha Riza story had any importance or even any relevance. No, Fred had to lecture us on the runup to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

But I must thank you for alerting me to this article. I shall forever be grateful to Fred Kaplan for reporting that the World Bank mandarins were appalled that Paul Wolfowitz would hop a Department of Defense flight to Africa when the multilateral incompetents in the Bank couldn't get him there. What the hell. Who cares about fighting African poverty when they have an image to protect?

Little wonder that there are so many African leaders that are furious with the Europeans for their railroading of Wolfowitz. The Africans might have thought that Wolfowitz might actually do some poverty relief and economy-building in Africa, instead of lunching in Manhattan and protecting inefficient European agribusiness.

It doesn't get much better.

Now, the reason that Wolfowitz is being forced out is unrelated to the employment of Shaha Riza; instead, the reason he must go is because of his management style?

Then why did the world press waste weeks of headlines and front-page stories on the phony scandal to begin with? Why did the World Bank hold its overblown ad hoc show trial on the Shaha Riza matter, only to conclude that it "accepts" Mr. Wolfowitz's position that he did nothing wrong? Why, after a show trial that didn't prove any wrongdoing, demand Wolfowitz's resignation?

I really do think this is a case where the facts aren't in much dispute. You all are just overjoyed at any development which appears to hurt the Bush Administration, regardless of the circumstances. Hurt Bush first, ask questions later.

I resisted looking at those links you supplied and I am a little ashamed to admit that I just had to check it out to see what offense you might have intended this time. I guess I am glad that I did, because after five minutes of looking, trying to figure it out, I finally saw at the bottom why you posted it. (How do you find those things?)

Anyway, it isn't me, and I have no idea who that person is, however agreeable he may be.

Are you Googling the screen name "elephantman"? I don't think obsessing about me will do you any good. It hasn't helped Rusty Austin's mental health issues...

My health care advice for Mike is to lose about 60 lbs.

"If you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it is free."

-- P.J. O'Rourke, 1993

Our friend Tom posted this:

Nice film. Pity we'll probably never see it.I'm seeing reports that the Justice Department intend to arrest Moore the second he lands back on U.S. soil, and his film will be seized. If it ever gets released, it'll have the Cuban footage removed by governmnent order.

And right now, some people are talking "Why not release it to the Internet?" That would be fine...if Moore made a film for free. He has to make back his costs, which means a theatrical run, not an extravaganza on YouTube...which the government would probably block anyway.

So, just like so many foreign and independent movies mentioned on Salon and in magazines, it's a name to bandy around on a tongue to show your sophistication. But unless you go to illegal means to download those movies, you'll never see them. And in the case of something deliberately controversial like Sicko, you won't even be able to do that.

No, Tom. Don't worry. This isn't the country that bans films, forces its citizens to get its information surreptitiously off the internet, and jails its documentarians. The country that does that is Cuba.