If the Left really gave a damn

If the left really gave a damn about corruption or poverty of the suffering of the disadvantaged one would think they would be supporting Wolfowitz's attempts to deal with corruption at the World Bank, rather than siding with the thieves.

If they really gave a damn that is. From Betsys :

Needless to say, none of this context has appeared in the media smears suggesting that Mr. Wolfowitz pulled a fast one to pad the pay of Ms. Riza. Yet the record clearly shows he acted only after he had tried to recuse himself but then wasn't allowed to do so by the ethics committee. And he acted only after that same committee advised him to compensate Ms. Riza for the damage to her career from a "conflict of interest" that was no fault of her own.

Based on this paper trail, Mr. Wolfowitz's only real mistake was in assuming that everyone else was acting in good faith. Yet when some of these details leaked to the media, nearly everyone else at the bank dodged responsibility and let Mr. Wolfowitz twist in the wind.

So why would all these rumors have been put out there to make it look like he was just channeling money to his girlfriend. Could it have anything to do with his crusade to clean up the rampant corruption in the Bank?

All of this is so unfair that Mr. Wolfowitz could be forgiven for concluding that bank officials insisted he play a role in raising Ms. Riza's pay precisely so they could use it against him later. Even if that isn't true, it's clear that his enemies--especially Europeans who want the bank presidency to go to one of their own--are now using this to force him out of the bank. They especially dislike his anticorruption campaign, as do his opponents in the staff union and such elites of the global poverty industry as Nancy Birdsall of the Center for Global Development. They prefer the status quo that holds them accountable only for how much money they lend, not how much they actually help the poor.
Equally cynical has been the press corps, which slurred Mr. Wolfowitz with selective reporting and now says, in straight-faced solemnity, that the president must leave the bank because his "credibility" has been damaged.

Shamefully, some of the American media, such as the LA Times, is buying into this attempt to get Wolfowitz.

Trying to clean up the corruption at the World Bank is a truly Herculean task.

The World Bank will work with the United Nations and other agencies in a global drive to help developing countries recover assets stolen by corrupt leaders, the Bank said on Sunday, estimating that the extent of graft in poor states could reach $800 billion a year.

800 billion a year could buy a lot of food and medicine. 800 billion a year could educate a lot of poor illiterate children. 800 billion a year might make the need for celebrity telethons unnecessary.