For Wolfowitz, the end is near

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I posted my thoughts on The Wolfowitz Affair last night, and here's the latest from WaPo:

The World Bank's executive board is negotiating the resignation of embattled President Paul D. Wolfowitz, senior bank officials said this afternoon.

The sources said that under the terms being discussed, Wolfowitz would step down, ending the ethics controversy that has consumed the bank for weeks, while the board would credit him for some achievements as president of the global poverty-fighting institution, including a sharpened focus on aiding Africa and stemming corruption.

The Bush Administration is apparently "helping broker the terms" and is "eager to see the matter resolved swiftly," but -- and this shows its wagon-circling priorities -- it had been working on "finding Wolfowitz a face-saving way out," whereby "the bank's board [would have reprimanded] but not [fired] Wolfowitz for engineering and covering up a substantial raise for his girlfriend, with the bank expressly sharing some of the blame for the ethics controversy".

In typical fashion, then, the Bush Administration was trying to avoid responsibility and deflect accountability while protecting one of its own. But the bank, much to its credit, "rejected that formulation in discussions last night and today". And consider this: "The Bush administration appeared to be virtually alone in supporting Wolfowitz. Nearly all board members have endorsed the findings of the committee's report, officials said, with even Canada -- traditionally a reliable U.S. ally -- breaking with the Bush administration."

(Bush. Alone. Again. What else is new?)

Which means that the end is near for Wolfowitz at The World Bank. If he doesn't resign -- and the window seems to be open -- he will likely be subjected to a vote of no confidence or fired. And so his resignation is inevitable. It's just a matter of when.

(CNN has more here, ABC here.)