Note there's no Wolfowitz defense of job performance...

[Fresh_Start]

no one's claiming investment in the third world is improving under his guidance
no one's claiming poverty in the third world is decreasing
no one's claiming self-sufficiency in the third world is improving
no one's claiming life expectancy in the third world is better
no one's claiming infant mortality is down

His entire defense is 'I'm your run of the mill criminal'.

[Kagemusha]

1. His defense is that he's the man Bush wants on the job

and it's a pretty good one, because Bush's vote is the only one that matters here, the way the World Bank is structured.

[Igel]

2. I haven't seen him attacked on that, however.

I'd point out there's also no defense of his diet or blood cholesterol levels, nor is he defending his dental hygiene.

It's down to charges that the promotion and pay raise given to his girl were excessive, and the committee didn't know a thing about them.

But then there's the allegation that e-mails concerning precisely those points were circulated to the ethics committee and WB board members *prior* to the ethics committee's saying, in effect, that everything was fine and nothing more need be said on the matter.