World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz and his political appointees have attempted to reverse the institution’s long-standing policy of promoting family planning, despite Wolfowitz’s recent statement, “Our policy hasn’t changed.”

As ThinkProgress noted earlier, a draft of the bank’s pending Strategy for Health, Nutrition, and Population (HNP) mentions family planning just once, in reference to a 2006 reproductive health project in the Caribbean that supported family planning services (p. 120). In contrast, the previous HNP (1997) identified a “lack of access to family planning services as a primary health challenge.” The draft was prepared by the office of managing director Juan Jos© Daboub, a strong proponent of U.S. policy in Iraq whom Wolfowitz hired last year.

Officials at the World Bank have now rejected this regressive family planning policy. In an April 19 memo, eight of the World Bank’s executive directors write:

The directors specifically attack Daboub’s revision of the World Bank’s family planning policies. Some examples of their criticisms:

– “The original document makes virtually no reference to sexual and reproductive health, on a strategic level. This is surprising, considering the Bank has committed almost US$2 billion to sexual and reproductive health over the past 10 years.”

– “The document — including the supplmental note — still does not contain a clear position on how the Bank engages in issues of sexual and reproductive health.”

– “The document and supplemental note place sexual and reproductive health within the context of population policy and contains language, which suggests a limitation of sexual and reproductive health to tackle ‘fertility rates.’ This is not acceptable. … Sexual and reproductive health and family planning are integral parts of health service delivery and, as such, essential for women’s health.”

Even though Wolfowitz is no longer a member of the Bush administration, his World Bank policies continue to support the President’s conservative priorities: promoting abstinence-only policies and conservative ideology over solid scientific research.

– Rudy Giuliani, on whether the Iraq escalation is working.

Scott J. Bloch, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, “who says he is investigating Karl Rove for allegations he influenced government activity for partisan purposes is himself facing allegations of similar behavior.” In April 2005, government watchdogs and others complained that “the White House appointee had allowed his office to ‘sit on’ a complaint that then-White House National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice used government funds to travel in support of President Bush’s re-election bid.”

UPDATE: CREW adds: “The fact that OSC has been charged with handling these matters suggests the possibility that the White House is orchestrating a cover-up of its illegal and improper activities.”

UPDATE II: More on Bloch from David Corn.

Last night, Bill O’Reilly exposed how George Soros rules the world. The Center for American Progress, home of ThinkProgress, made the chart:

You really can’t call yourself “a very well-oiled, effective character assassination machine” until you’re on O’Reilly’s list, so thanks to all our readers who helped make this possible.

Media Matters, Oliver Willis and Crooks and Liars have more.

“An Army Ranger who was with Pat Tillman when he died by friendly fire said Tuesday he was told by a higher-up to conceal that information from Tillman’s family. ‘I was ordered not to tell them,’ U.S. Army Specialist Bryan O’Neal told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.”

In an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editorial board yesterday, former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) accused Senate Majoirty Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) of “getting very, very close to treason” by opposing the war in Iraq. When a member of the editorial board noted that treason is a “pretty serious charge,” DeLay shot back, “And I’m serious about it.” He added that he had looked up the definition on his way to the interview (probably a good idea), and it meant “the betrayal of trust.” Watch it:

DeLay specifically attacks Reid, saying that “in the time of war, with soldiers dying on the ground, announcing that we had lost the war, is very close to treasonous.” Here’s DeLay in 1999, stating that the U.S. campaign in Kosovo will fail:

“[Milosevic is] stronger in Kosovo now than he was before the bombing. … The Serbian people are rallying around him like never before. He’s much stronger with his allies, Russians and others.” Clinton “has no plan for the end” and “recognizes that Milosevic will still be in power,” added DeLay. “The bombing was a mistake. … And this president ought to show some leadership and admit it, and come to some sort of negotiated end.”

Of course, none of this should come as a surprise. DeLay, who is currently under criminal indictment for money laundering and criminal conspiracy, has a long history of attacking the patriotism of progressives.

UPDATE: “I cannot support a failed foreign policy. … President Clinton has never explained to the American people why he was involving the US military in a civil war in a sovereign nation, other than to say it is for humanitarian reasons, a new military-foreign policy precedent. Was it worth it to stay in Vietnam to save face? What good has been accomplished so far? Absolutely nothing.” — Tom DeLay on the House floor in April 1999, when US troops were a month into their three-month mission in Kosovo

UPDATE II: Treason, as defined by the Constitution:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

UPDATE III: Greg Sargent: “Judging by the mounting hysteria of their opponents, it looks like [war critics'] aggressiveness is working.”

UPDATE IV: Carbetbagger bravely delves into DeLay’s thinking.

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In “explosive testimony” today, Kevin Tillman, brother of Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former NFL player who was killed in action in Afghanistan, “accused the Bush administration of twisting the facts of his brother’s death to distract public attention from the prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib.”

The U.S. Army fabricated a story of his brother’s heroism in action, knowing he was killed by friendly fire, Tillman said. They constructed not only a story of combat action — accompanied by a silver medal — but lied about his medical care… “These are deliberate and calculated lies” and “a deliberate act of deceit,” Tillman said.

With his voice shaking, Tillman, who also served in the Army, said the official account of his brother’s death in 2004 was “utter fiction…intended to deceive the family and more importantly the American people.”

Watch Tillman’s testimony:

More videos at The Gavel.