A flawed defense of Wolfowitz

Re “World-class bum rap,” Opinion, April 17

Ruth Wedgwood’s apologia for World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz doesn’t pass the laugh test. Her primary defense seems to be that someone else, namely other World Bank officials, demanded that Wolfowitz engage in unethical behavior.

The fact that an international law professor is peddling such a defense is frightening. Even if this defense were somehow meaningful, there is a larger issue here. Wolfowitz was willing to dig up any half-baked justification he could to sell a war in which thousands of Americans have perished, whether such justifications were the product of good intelligence or not.

Reputation means something. We know in hindsight, and some of us knew then, that Wolfowitz and other true believers in the Bush administration would say and do anything to get this war on. Instead of being relegated to the ash bin of governmental functionaries, Wolfowitz was placed in a position of power in an institution that should be staffed by those with respect for, instead of disdain for, openness and accountability.

Wolfowitz’s refusal to step down is one piece in the utter dysfunction of the government we have been stuck with these last six years. Wolfowitz never should have been World Bank president, and he should go sooner than later.

BRANDEN FRANKEL

Los Angeles

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Wedgwood’s column trying to morph criticism of Wolfowitz’s shenanigans into an attack on professional women everywhere seems typical of her approach of justifying all failures of Wolfowitz or, for that matter, the Bush administration. Her view is that those who disagree with her are scandal-mongers or simply don’t have a clue as to what is really going on. Wedgwood, who has held several important positions within the Bush administration, has a long history of supporting the sorry Iraq war fiasco and defaming its critics. In this case, Wedgwood may or may not have something of value to say. But the fact that she has a long history of spinning events to suit her agenda should have been included in her biography at the beginning of her column. And for The Times to publish her column without disclosing her close ties to the Bush administration is inexcusable.

GERALD SHEA

Charlottesville, Va.