It was very much business for a Defense Department contractor, SAIC: But behind the scenes, it looks like a lover or friend in high places may have been pulling the strings for the girlfriend of Paul Wolfowitz, Shaha Riza.
How did Riza land a moonlight gig with the Iraq contractor in 2003? At the request of the Defense Department, according to Reuters. (Riza was working for the World Bank, but forgot to tell the Bank about picking up some extra work in Iraq.) Her beau, Paul Wolfowitz, now president of the World Bank, was then-Pentagon No. 2 and a chief planner of the Iraq invasion at the time.
…. A spokeswoman for Science Applications International Corp., or SAIC, said the Defense Department’s policy office directed the company to enter a subcontract with Shaha Riza, under which she spent a month studying ways to form a government in Iraq.
AND THEN SHE WAS PROMOTED: When Wolfie was nominated to be president of the World Bank by president Bush in 2005, he arranged to give Riza a high-paying promotion before she resigned and took a job at the U.S. State Department.
Riza’s salary increased from $132,660 to $193,590: Riza was compelled leave the World Bank because of rules against lovers working closely together at the Bank, but the pay hike guaranteed her a cushy salary at her next place of business: the U.S. State Department. There, Riza works under Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter, Liz, principal deputy assistant secretary of state For Near Eastern Affairs.
Stay Tuned: There may be a story on how Riza, who carries a British passport, ended up at the State Department. (Did she just send in her resume with a job reference from Wolfie?)
Meanwhile: Senior Democratic congressmen and other critics are pushing for the resignation of Wolfowitz, saying his actions have undermined the campaign against corruption in the developing world that has been a hallmark of his World Bank tenure.
More on the saga: Wolfowitz: Girlfriend’s Shadowy Iraq Work and Wolfowitz Under Fire: Iraq in the Shadows.
UPDATE (06/20/13): Freedom of Information Act documents regarding association of Riza and Liz Cheney.
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