The return of Paul Wolfowitz

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Newsweek's Michael Isikoff reports:

Don't ever say the Bush administration doesn't take care of its own. Nearly three years after Paul Wolfowitz resigned as deputy Defense secretary and six months after his stormy departure as president of the World Bank -- amid allegations that he improperly awarded a raise to his girlfriend -- he's in line to return to public service. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has offered Wolfowitz, a prime architect of the Iraq War, a position as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board, a prestigious State Department panel, according to two department sources who declined to be identified discussing personnel matters. The 18-member panel, which has access to highly classified intelligence, advises Rice on disarmament, nuclear proliferation, WMD issues and other matters. "We think he is well suited and will do an excellent job," said one senior official.

No, children, it doesn't matter how badly you mess up, how badly you get things wrong, how dangerous your views are, how corrupt you may be -- in the end, as long as you remain loyal, as long as you remain ideologically friendly, there'll be a place for you somewhere in the lofty echelons of Bushworld.

The previous chairman of the ISAB was, of all people, Fred Thompson, current Republican presidential snoozer -- hardly a Bush loyalist, even more hardly a great mind. One suspects that Wolfowitz will bring a tad more vigour to the job, much to the detriment of, well, the whole damn world.