A New York Times report criticizing Iraq reconstruction relied on a man now under investigation for bad work habits and other problems. This inquiry regards the competency and lack of diligence on the part of the inspector general who purportedly uncovered cases of fraud and waste in Iraq. This is the report the New York Times relied upon when it published a front-page article lambasting the state of Iraqi reconstruction.

The New York Times reflexively has spun this  as witch-hunting retribution: a stance the paper did not take when Paul Wolfowitz was attacked at the World Bank by officials who may have their  own conflicts of interest, who may dislike a figure associated with the Iraq war and a man who has pressured them to change the old ways of "doing business " (ignore corruption in the granting of World Bank loans, for instance). No witch-hunting there, but witch-hunting of Bowen?