Pentagon cleared Wolfowitz in hiring of girlfriend

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19415418.htm

WASHINGTON, April 19 (Reuters) - The Pentagon's inspector general looked into the Defense Department's 2003 order for a contractor to hire the girlfriend of then-Pentagon No. 2 Paul Wolfowitz, but found no violation to warrant a deeper probe, defense officials said on Thursday.

A 2005 investigation by the inspector general found that Shaha Riza, Wolfowitz's companion and a World Bank employee, was qualified to serve as an expert to carry out a study related to Iraq, investigation results show.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Wolfowitz may have recommended Riza for the job, but she was also recommended by others and was uniquely qualified.

Wolfowitz, a key Iraq war architect who left the Pentagon in 2005 to become president of the World Bank, is under fire for overseeing a high-paying promotion for Riza after he took the helm of the poverty-fighting global lender.

[AlCzervik]

1. i'm sure they wouldn't have "Looked deeper" even though it smelled bad.

[Eugene]

2. That sure was fast:

Tuesday: SAIC discloses crony contract.
Wednesday: Pentagon says it is investigating.
Thursday: Pentagon finds no wrongdoing.

A look by the GAO or Congress itself is in order, I'd say.

[mediaman007]

3. Now if I were a right-wing nut job, I would conclude that

she could be a spy and the reason that we are flailing along in Iraq! I could suggest that she might have divided loyalties.

But I'm not a right-wing nut job, and I can appreciate that someone with unique talents and abilities can get a job on sheer merit. I am the kind of person who believes that having connections to powerful people is not a factor in getting employed. In fact, I think that someone who is talented should make more money than the head of the department!

(Sorry, you'll have to sort out the sarcasm. :-])