Regret the Error

In the March 30 issue, an item in the Conventional Wisdom Watch wrongly implied that Richard Holbrooke, the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan in President Obama’s State Department, bore some culpability for the $165 million in bonuses awarded recently to AIG executives for their work over the past year. Although Holbrooke was a member of AIG’s board of directors from 2001 to 2008 and served on a committee that established guidelines for executive compensation, his tenure with that committee ended in 2005–several years before the controversial bonuses were established. Moreover, the full board was never briefed on the bonuses during the time Holbrooke served on it. NEWSWEEK regrets the error. Link