Less Dangerous

18 March 2005



Wolfowitz Tapped for World Bank Job

Those who pose as progressives in America were shocked by the nomination of Paul Wolfowitz to be the next President of the World Bank. Some said the Deputy Defense Secretary lacked sufficient economics experience, which is true. Others, worried that he would favor US and oil industry interests, which is likely. However, a more thoughtful view is that this is a good appointment. At the World Bank, Dr. Wolfowitz will only be able to wreck economies rather than kill people by the thousands.

By custom, the presidency of the World Bank goes to an American while the top job at the IMF goes to a European. This time, given Dr. Wolfowitz's popularity deficit in Europe as one of the architects of an unpopular war of American imperialism, there could actually be efforts to deny him the job. As one European told Reuters, anonymously, Dr. Wolfowitz's "nomination today tells us the US couldn't care less what the rest of the world thinks." When the appointment was first floated a few weeks ago, the Bank's board of directors rejected the idea.

Mr. Bush, however, doesn't see the problem -- which is entirely in character. In announcing the appointment (which the Europeans will just have to get over), he called Dr. Wolfowitz "a compassionate, decent man." This sent many scurrying to the thesaurus to discover whether there were arcane definitions that would make these adjectives accurate. "Skilled diplomat" was another term that made it difficult to reconcile with a career capped by a war based on false information (or was it a Straussian "noble lie"?) and an unremitting disregard of the UN and America's allies.

Outgoing president of the Bank, James Wolfensohn, used his position more creatively and effectively than anyone had ever used the powers of that office before. He drew up the initial plans for debt relief for the world's poorest, and helped stave of a total disaster during the 1997 East Asian currency meltdown. The worst that Dr. Wolfowitz could do is reverse everything his predecessor has accomplished, which would be hard to the poorest, but not necessarily lethal.

There is, however, a precedent for this appointment. After incinerating Vietnam to no avail, destroying the Bretton Woods currency system in the process, and creating a festering sore in the American body politic that has yet to completely heal, Robert McNamara left the Pentagon in 1968 to run the World Bank. He has enjoyed a rehabilitation among the forgiving and the forgetful, and perhaps, Dr. Wolfowitz's reputation may undergo a similar transformation. Just not at the Kensington Review.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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