The Itchy and Scratchy Show: Quid pro quo

Pillowtalk Riza Was a Key ‘Influence’ Who Helped ‘Reinforce Spitman Wolfie's Resolve’ On Iraq Invasion

Riza has played a “crucial role” in neoconservative circles since before the U.S. invasion. An 8/3/04 report in Canada’s National Post noted:
So Mr. Wolfowitz and Ms. Riza are not just close personally, they have also both long espoused the same deeply held conviction that democracy should be spread across the Arab world. With his ear, she is one of most influential Arabs in Washington.

“Paul and some others always had Saddam Hussein in their sights, but she helped reinforce that resolve,” said a friend who moves in similar conservative circles. “That was greatly helped by the fact that she is an Arab woman who is an expert on the process of democracy.” …

“This agenda is being pushed by a group in which Shaha has a crucial role. She has views she holds strongly, but she is a modest, polite person,” the friend said.

A 2004 New Yorker article called Riza an “influence” on Wolfowitz’s thinking about Iraq and in 2005, she was listed on the World Bank’s website “as a media contact for Iraq reconstruction issues.”

International Herald Tribune

Unusual trip to Iraq in '03 for Wolfowitz** companion

By Steven R. Weisman and David E. Sanger Published: April 17, 2007

WASHINGTON: The Defense Department directed a private contractor in 2003 to hire Shaha Ali Riza, a World Bank employee and the companion of Paul Wolfowitz**, then the deputy secretary of defense, to spend a month studying issues related to setting up a new government in Iraq, the contractor said Monday.The contractor, Science Applications International Corporation, or SAIC, said that it had been directed to hire Riza by the office of the under secretary for policy. The head of that office at the time was Douglas Feith, who reported to Wolfowitz.

Victoria Toensing**, a lawyer representing Riza, said this evening that Riza went to Iraq as a volunteer and took a leave of absence from the World Bank, paying for her own benefits while she was on leave.