Friends in all the Right Places

New Republic editor in chief Martin Peretz speaks up in defense of Paul Wolfowitz and the general principle of appointing unqualified, slightly corrupt people to important positions after they screw up their job at the Defense Department. Even the avowed conservative magazines don't seem especially interested in flacking for Wolfowitz at this point.

4/21/07 11:37AM del.icio.us this incoming links

Comments

So his two big supporters now are Peretz and Hitchens? It's hard out there for a Trotsykite.

Posted by: Reality Man on April 21, 2007 12:31 PM

Looks like you have stopped reading the website of your BFF Jonah Lucianne.

Posted by: gregor on April 21, 2007 12:37 PM

Well, what do you expect from the co-chair of the Scooter Libby Defense Fund?

Posted by: FMguru on April 21, 2007 12:51 PM

This wolfowitz 'scandal' was exposed as a media invention some time ago as I have pointed out numerous times(and as the article linked in peretz' blog demonstrates in detail). On discovering his mistake a man of integrity would publically appologize for helping promulgate a false story. I expect you to keep on smearing wolfowitz as corrupt in typical disregard of the truth.

Posted by: pimp hand strikes! on April 21, 2007 01:04 PM

The funniest part of the Peretz article is the notion that Wolfowitz is "practical". Nobody has ever quite had the sheer awe inspiring genius to see that.

One sub-theme in the Rizagate folly that has been run by the right does need showing up: the idea that Wolfowitz singlehandedly came up with the anti-corruption theme. Not only has this theme been of major importance since the early 1990s, but Wolfowitz's policy has actually been a step backwards in regard to corruption. It would never have been World Bank policy to create a relationship with a government as absolutely corrupt as Iraq without setting up very stiff conditions. Wolfowitz, who thinks that it is fine to cancel projects in India because of corruption issues, thinks that the World Bank should actually have an office in the Green Zone.

It was a mindless and distasteful decision to nominate this man for the Presidency of the World Bank, but it is nice to see that he is going to be dragged out in such a way as to leave a wide, slimy trail of discredit both on himself and on his few remaining supporters. Uh, well, maybe just on himself. With supporters like Hitchens and Peretz, you can't really deposit any more slime. They are slime sufficient slime generators!

Posted by: roger on April 21, 2007 01:21 PM

If Wolfowitz keeps his job, and large numbers of World Bank staff resign (as press reports indicate they will), Wolfowitz can appoint many more people with right wing views to the open positions. Surely a desirable result for the Bush Administration. I suspect that the Administration will do everything it can to support Wolfowitz. After all, the Administration's attempts to upgrade the attorneys and staff of the Justice Department haven't been as successful as they have wished.

Posted by: Peter Eggenberger on April 21, 2007 01:26 PM

What is the "New Republic" and who is "Martin Peretz"?

Ah, that would be nice to hear...

Posted by: Fred on April 21, 2007 01:57 PM

Peretz's column is god-awful, basically saying he'd speculated that because people don't like Wolfowitz anything bad they're saying about him must be a lie. But the Ruth Wedgewood Op-ed he's linking to is either lying, obfuscating, or the case against Wolfowitz here isn't as strong as I'd thought it was (it's also possible I'm just misunderstanding, but I'll ignore that for now). In particular, her case that it really was the ethics committee who made the disputed decisions, and didn't allow Wolfowitz to recuse himself, would if true, partially exculpate him.

Posted by: washerdreyer on April 21, 2007 05:54 PM

The AIPAC derived think-tank, Washington Institute for Near East Studies, looks after its own. This is just Israeli lobby back-scratching.

WINEP's Board of Advisers includes: Warren Christopher, Lawrence S. Eagleburger, Alexander Haig, Max M. Kampelman, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Samuel W. Lewis, Edward Luttwak, Michael Mandelbaum, Robert McFarlane, Martin Peretz, Richard Perle, James Roche, George P. Shultz, Paul Wolfowitz, James Woolsey, and Mortimer Zuckerman. Wolfowitz and Roche resigned from the board when they entered the Bush administration in 2001, although WINEP still proudly lists them.

Posted by: otto on April 21, 2007 06:15 PM

From the column Peretz linked to: "Ruth Wedgwood, RUTH WEDGWOOD is professor of international law and diplomacy at Johns Hopkins University's School for Advanced International Studies."

Wolfowitz was the dean of SAIS for many years. During that time, he brought over (then-) allies like Fukuyama to teach there. In fact, his work as the dean to supposedly re-focus SAIS from Cold War style-issues towards globalization-related issues was one of the talking points the Bushies used when nominating him.

"If Wolfowitz keeps his job, and large numbers of World Bank staff resign (as press reports indicate they will), Wolfowitz can appoint many more people with right wing views to the open positions. Surely a desirable result for the Bush Administration. I suspect that the Administration will do everything it can to support Wolfowitz. After all, the Administration's attempts to upgrade the attorneys and staff of the Justice Department haven't been as successful as they have wished.
Posted by: Peter Eggenberger on April 21, 2007 01:26 PM"

Very true. It's divide and conquer. Do something that pisses off decent-minded people so that they leave and bring in your own ideologues. Divide-and-conquer is pretty much the Rove style of politics.

Posted by: Reality Man on April 22, 2007 01:22 AM

New Republic conservative? Yea, right.

That's a neoliberal rag.

If you want conservative, try: Chronicles Magazine, American Conservative, or Middle American News.

Posted by: David on April 22, 2007 07:46 AM

My first thought was that Peretz must consider Wolfowitz a real friend of AIPAC and the Likud. Isn't that always what motivates Peretz's thinking?

Posted by: nemo on April 22, 2007 04:38 PM

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