Yes, He's a Crappy World Bank President

Sure, sure Paul Wolfowitz is guilty of some low-grade corruption, but isn't the truth of the matter that New Republic editor in chief Martin Peretz is right that "the real Wolfowitz scandal . . . is how Wolfowitz is being treated by his slimy critics," that he was doing good work to improve the World Bank from its current status as a "joke."

Well, no. Shockingly enough, it turns out that the editor in chief of this publication, well-respected until the rise of bloggers who can't handle its truth-speaking ways, has absolutely no idea what he's talking about and is just recycling right-wing talking points. But don't take my word for it. Check out Sebastian Mallaby's column, as Sam Rosenfeld says "he's much meaner than I am."

Comments

you gotta edit that first paragraph--it's a mess.

Posted by blue | May 14, 2007 3:19 PM

Ah, but what about Christopher Hitchens' claim in Slate today that the attacks on Wolfowitz and his girlfriend are the worst example of character assassination he has ever seen? Quite a claim, especially when you consider Hitchens' own contributions to the genre.

Posted by partisan | May 14, 2007 3:28 PM

Wolfowitz does seem to have been sandbagged at the World Bank, for whatever reason. Consider these facts.

1) Wolfowitz's girlfriend already worked at the bank when he was appointed. Wolfowitz immediately said he wanted to be recused on any personnel issues having to do with her.

2) World Bank bureaucracy says not good enough, girlfriend has to go. Since she was up for promotion here, we'll come up with a deal to make up for derailing her career here. Wolfowitz says, fine, but I want to recuse myself from the details of this deal.

3) World Bank bureaucracy says, nope, you have to sign off on this deal. Wolfowitz signs off on the deal which gives his girlfriend a fat $200k salary (fat like those of plenty of World Bank officers). World Bank bureaucrats then accuse Wolfowitz of corruption for signing off on this deal.

What am I missing here?

Posted by Julio | May 14, 2007 3:37 PM

One wonders whether Marty Peretz ever bothered to take note of the World Bank and its work, good or otherwise, until his ideological pal Wolfowitz landed there.

I rather doubt it, but I do not spend my $$$ for access to TNR's archives.

Posted by Tyrone Slothrop | May 14, 2007 5:03 PM

1) What blue said.

2) What am I missing here?

I won't claim to be an expert on the subject, but the claim that the bureaucracy made him do it is not what I've heard. First of all, this wasn't a deal put together by the Bank and then Wolfowitz just signed off on it. Wolfowitz's side is that he worked on the deal but kept the Ethics Committee informed and they were okay with it. He has admitted it was a "mistake" not to stay out of it. So saying it was all the bureaucracy is being even more generous to Wolfowitz than his own version of events. And of course, the other side is that the Committee knew nothing about it, which is what the Committee seems to be saying. Even if you think they're railroading him, you're missing something if you're not aware of that side of the argument (or else you're being intentionally misleading by omitting it).

Posted by ibid | May 14, 2007 5:59 PM

It is unfortunate that this type of corruption occurs within an organization that is attempting assist in the development of nations. While the World Bank is far from upstanding in their policies, there needs to be more effort in assisting in the growth of undeveloped countries if the issues that face the world today are to be addressed: global poverty, disease, global warming etc.

Politics should not be made part of organizations that are seeking to help developing countries. If more was done to support the UN Millennium Development Goals, there would certainly be a drastic difference in what this world will look like in ten years. According to the Borgen Project, just $19 billion annually can end starvation and malnutrition. Put into perspective, we have spent over $340 billion on the Iraq war without any positive outcome.

America has moved a big step down from the great country it used to be, thanks to the Bush administration. Bush has forgotten about diplomacy, foreign aid and humanitarian causes that benefit all involved. To restore those values should be a top priority.

Posted by ellec | May 14, 2007 7:52 PM

TNR gets lots of bad press. Seems to me like its well deserved.
HEY WOLFOWITZ:
CLEAN UP CORRUPTION AT THE WORLD BANK!!
QUIT!!!

Posted by Aaron | May 14, 2007 10:10 PM

I can tell immediately why yglesias is fond of this op-ed. The very first paragraph uses the private sphere contrast to discount the importance of whether there was ever any truth to this supposed scandal. According to Mallaby, the fact that hucksters have made a lot of noise about it is reason enough in itself to fire wolfowitz.

The reason why mallaby is emphasising the impression created by the 'scandal' and not the 'scandal' itself should be self evident, though im sure most of you will have no difficulty in deluding yourselves on the point.

Posted by pimp hand strikes! | May 15, 2007 4:30 AM