Should Wolfowitz walk?

An interesting item by Tom Regan on the US National Public Radio blog points out that while our own Daily Telegraph and Guardian and Germany’s Der Spiegel all focus heavily on the negative aspects of the World Bank investigators’ report on Paul Wolfowitz’s conduct, both the Washington Post and the New York Times take the opposite line, giving prominence to Wolfowitz’s rebuttal of the accusation that he mishandled the issue of his girlfriend’s promotion and pay rise. Clearly the facts of the story are becoming buried under waves of anti-Us and anti-neocon sentiment; but clearly also, Wolfowitz was a hugely provocative appointment at the Bank in the first place and has failed to win even the grudging respect of many of his senior colleagues and board members. Nor has he had any significant reported impact on the level of corruption within World Bank client governments, which was his sole self-declared objective on taking up the post.