We know that Paul Wolfowitz's girl-friend is still being paid by the World Bank, but she no longer works there. So what does she do? Is she working on global warming, or alternative energy? It sure looks like it - at least until you dig a bit deeper. Here is the thread I pulled on to find out about Ms. Riza's exciting new job.
Ms. Riza remains on the World Bank's payroll even though she left the State Department job in 2006 and now works for Foundation for the Future, an international organization that gets some money from the department.
When asked what Ms. Riza does at the foundation, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey on Friday said his "best understanding" was that she is an adviser to the foundation's board. "I do not have a job description for her, no," he said.
http://www.dallasnews.com/...
Google to the rescue. Turns out the Foundation for the Future is into science, future studies, etc.
The Foundation conducts a broad range of programs and activities to promote an understanding of the factors in the social, genetic, biological, medical, psychological, physiological, cultural, technological, and ecological fields that may have an impact on human life during coming millennia
And they even have a board of advisers (which does not include Ms. Riza)
Time to Google a little deeper, hmm? It turns out that she does not work for that Foundation for the Future. She works for this Foundation for the Future which is actually called the Broader Middle East and North Africa Foundation for the Future
Elizabeth Cheney, who has since left the State Department, was in charge of democracy promotion and was instrumental in creating the Foundation for the Future, which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced with fanfare at a conference in Bahrain in November 2005
http://www.chron.com/...
And what do they do?
"The Foundation will provide grants to help civil society strengthen the rule of law, to protect basic civil liberties, and ensure greater opportunity for health and education. But most importantly, the Foundation is a sign that citizens have to be trusted who are working for democratic reform in particular countries, and cities, and villages to use their grant money for the greatest good that they see fit."
--Secretary Rice at the Forum for the Future
Manama, Bahrain
November 12, 2005
Actually, they don't do that. So far, they haven't done much.
The Foundation for the Future, as the effort is called, has made no grants and held only two board meetings since its creation 1 1/2 years ago. Though Shaha Riza, who has been romantically linked to Wolfowitz, is not listed as part of the staff on the organization's Web site, she is the only person working in the group's offices, located within the Henry L. Stimson Center, a think tank. The Washington office is listed as a "branch," according to the site, which promises that soon a main office will be established in Beirut.
"It is basically just her running this thing," said Tamara Cofman Wittes, research fellow at the Brookings Institution Saban Center for Middle East Policy, who closely tracks democracy programs in the region. She said the board members had no experience in grant-making and thus had "started from zero," with no bylaws or grant-making guidelines.
http://www.chron.com/...
The most informative parts of this story come from the
Houston Chronicle, and there is more to be learned if any inquiring minds want to know.