Little Calm in Wolfowitz's Wake

You would have thought that things would be quieter now at the World Bank, what with President Paul Wolfowitz's resignation last week in exchange for the bank board of directors' agreement not to say really bad things about him.

But there's residual anxiety, because Wolfowitz is there for six more weeks and no one knows what he will do. Wolfowitz's letter to the board on Friday, while saying he had no "expectation" of getting involved in policy and personnel matters anymore, still managed to rankle board folks who felt they hadn't signed off on his notions before the letter was made public.

Maybe it was his goofy statement that "I may make a farewell trip to Africa at the request of a number of leaders, but I would consult with you prior to making any such plans." Long as he's paying for it himself, hard to imagine they would object.

Then there was the question of what the rest of his coterie of aides would be doing before he left, especially Managing Director Juan José Daboub, a Wolfowitz appointee. Daboub created a major fuss when he attempted to amend the bank's family-planning policy for women in poor countries with respect to abortion and also tried to fiddle with the bank policy on climate change.

The other managing director, Wolfowitz appointee Graeme Wheeler, who weeks ago told Wolfowitz to his face that he should resign, has become something of an icon among the bank staff. Look for some serious friction between those two.

Top aide Kevin Kellems, who resigned before Wolfowitz did, is not, as has been reported, going to the Heritage Foundation or running for Congress from Indiana. He says he is going to be "doing more fishing and golfing with my father, as well as riding a motorcycle -- Yamaha Road Star Midnight 1600 -- and shooting sporting clays and skeet -- with a . . . Browning XS Sporting over/under 20 gauge."

It was unclear whether there were going to be photos and names on those clay targets. Kellems declined to say whose faces might be on them if there were.

We're told Wolfowitz might spend some time out West hiking and hanging with his kids after he leaves and could well join the book-writing crowd. Unclear where chief of staff Robin Cleveland will land, though she's likely to leave soon. Ditto the general counsel, former Spanish foreign minister Ana Palacio, whose Euro credentials have taken a major hit by this episode.

The irony is that Shaha Riza, the Wolfowitz pal whose forced leave-taking and demands for whopping raises triggered all this, wondered, "Why is it the woman is always the one who has to leave?"

Now the bank proved her wrong. In the prolonged tussle over her demands, four men -- Wolfowitz, Kellems, former general counsel Roberto Da ñino and personnel chief Xavier Coll-- have already lost their jobs, compared with perhaps only two women -- Cleveland and Palacio.

The eventual number of departees probably will depend on whom President Bush picks to be the next bank president. We're not adding to the long list of names already out there as possibilities, save to note that bank folks say this is going to be a full five-year term, which means Bush could be influencing the bank years after he leaves office.

Taming the Waistline

While the troop surge continues in Baghdad, seems Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has left the country to take care of a surging waistline. Talabani checked into the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., on Monday for a series of medical tests that could take a couple of weeks, Reuters reported. Talabani had been treated in Jordan in February for extreme fatigue and dehydration.