Wolfowitz: Return to Sender?

[Guest Gandalf Grey]

Wolfowitz: Return to Sender?

 

By Bill Berkowitz

Created Jul 16 2007 - 8:31am

 

Recently forced out as president of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, one of

the primary architects of U.S. President George W. Bush's Iraq war, is

heading back to familiar surroundings. And the Washington-based American

Enterprise Institute (AEI), one of the United States' premier conservative

think-tanks, is more than pleased to welcome him back.

 

Earlier this month, AEI President Christopher DeMuth announced that

Wolfowitz would be coming on board as a visiting scholar to work on such

issues as international economic development, Africa, and public-private

partnerships. Wolfowitz told the Financial Times that he would be

"explor[ing] some ways to help advance development in Africa, both through

the private sector and through foundation work."

 

Prior to joining the Pentagon in 2001, Wolfowitz served as a member of AEI's

Council of Academic Advisers.

 

After leaving his post as deputy secretary of defense with the Bush

administration, the World Bank position appeared to be the perfect fit for

Wolfowitz; a place to rehabilitate a reputation badly damaged by his serial

misjudgments over developments in Iraq.

 

However, nearly midway through his term at the World Bank, things started to

unravel as evidence mounted about Wolfowitz's ethical lapses. His efforts to

get his girlfriend (a bank employee) promoted, charges that he was a poor

manager, and a growing concern among member countries that he was using the

bank to advance U.S. interests fueled the fire.

 

As Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair magazine, pointed out in his June

"Editor's Letter" (written prior to Wolfowitz's World Bank exit strategy),

things had gotten so bad for Wolfowitz that he had become "a source of

ridicule within the international organization that employees have published

a satirical monograph called 'La Banca Swirlla' ('Bank Swirled')."

 

According to RightWeb, a project of the International Relations Center,

Wolfowitz received mixed reviews for his work at the World Bank. On the plus

side, "He badgered the United States and other wealthy countries to cut

subsidies to aid development in poorer countries, fervently pursued

anti-corruption policies, and announced moves aimed at strengthening the

bank's internal watchdog, the Department of Institutional Integrity."

 

Critics, however, were quick to point to the fact that Wolfowitz, a

controversial choice to begin with because of his involvement with the Iraq

War, exacerbated the controversy by choosing to bring on board "close

associates and supporters" of the Bush administration's "war on terror." The

case for dumping Wolfowitz was likely sealed earlier this year when it was

revealed that he was deeply involved in getting a pay raise and a new job at

the State Department for his girlfriend, Shaha Riza, a career bank staffer.

 

Wolfowitz is familiar with the world of conservative think tanks and public

policy institutes. In addition to his previous AEI work, he was a paid

speaker for the Heritage Foundation and the Hudson Institute. He was also an

original signatory with William Kristol's Project for the New American

Century.

 

Despite his dismal performance within the administration and his

questionable activities at the World Bank, Wolfowitz has been welcomed back

into the fold. And, unlike other Bush administration employees - such as

FEMA's Michael Brown, who was forced to resign after his incompetent

handling of Hurricane Katrina; or Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide

Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who will be forever linked with the outing of a CIA

operative, a subsequent conviction for perjury and obstructing justice, and

a presidential commutation; or former Interior Deputy Secretary J. Steven

Griles, who was convicted, and recently sentenced to jail time, for

withholding information from the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in 2005

about his meeting with Republican Party