Wolfowitz In Hot Water

I am a former World Bank staff member and currently do occasional consulting for the organization. It is a wonderful institution with an important mission and mostly does good work. There are some things I wish it didn't do, but it's as subject to political pressure as any International Organization. The U.S. and other world powers pull the strings and there's only so much the staff--dedicated development specialists from all over the planet--can do.

I strongly felt when Paul Wolfowitz was named President that he was the wrong man for the job, but that's par for the course for the Bush White House. I wish the Bank's Executive Board had bucked tradition and said 'no,' but that didn't happen. So now the Bank is stuck with him until 2010, unless the current scandal sinks him. Which it might.

I don't know anything other than what I read in the papers and I haven't called anyone at the Bank to learn more. I'd kind of rather just watch the mess unfold. One more scandal that the Bush administration can take credit for. Here's what's the Washington Post is saying. And here's the New York Times, plus this quick excerpt:

"The events injected a new ugliness into what had already been a bitter rift between Mr. Wolfowitz and many of the bank’s employees, who have questioned his suitability for the job as a former deputy secretary of defense and architect of the Iraq war, and have challenged many of his policies at the bank, especially those cracking down on corruption in which he suspended aid to several countries without consulting the board."