Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

In a Washington Post article appearing in the Seattle Times on Sunday, May 20, 2007, Karen Deyoung revealed what this failed character who was one of the notorious designers of the Iraq War disaster was like when he was cast in his new role as World Bank President.

According to several attendees, who listened to Wolfowitz's first bank conference after he assumed this prestigious role, they found Wolfowitz both charming and intelligent.  Wolfowitz humbly said that he would rely on the guidance of the World Bank's leaders for their guidance.  That was then!

This period was described by Deyoung:

"Two years later, Wolfowitz resigned from the World Bank, effective June 30, 2007.  He had become a virtual pariah, forced out by the bank's executive board for ethics violations and reviled by much of the staff as an arrogant intellectual who cared more about his ideas and image than about the institution or its customers."

That vivid assessment is a blazing denunciation of both Wolfowitz and the faulty judgment of Bush.  But Wolfowitz wasn't about to quit without a fight.  Hastily he hired an aggressive lawyer, sounding a sinister warning that if he did get fired, the reputation of the World Bank would fall commensurate with his own demise.  That sounds like blackmail.

This display of arrogance was only matched by his ignorance of the truly ethical role the World Bank President was demanded to display.  

A long experienced banker involved with multinational institutions laid it on the line, stating bluntly what the big bad Wolfowitz has done during his tenure as World Bank President to others involved with it, stating bluntly, "They have been thoroughly humiliated, disdained and insulted under Wolfowitz."

But before Bush, Wolfowitz was carrying on during Reagan's run.  James Mann, author of "Rise of the Vulcans," has stated that Wolfowitz became a leading conservative foreign policy leader under Reagan.  

When Wolfowitz had the opportunity to recruit like-minded foreign policy analysts he brought in the notorious I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Zalmay Khalizad.  Reagan's first Secretary of Sate, Alexander Haig, did not like Wolfowitz and was planning to fire him.  However, Haig's successor George Schultz liked the big bad Wolfowitz and promptly promoted him to Assistant Secretary of State.

Enter another arrogant character, Dick Cheney, who still talks about those "weapons of mass destruction" nobody ever found, as if they still existed.  They apparently exist within the fantasy construction of his mindset.  

Wolfowitz did thrive as Dick Cheney's chief policy strategist under George W. Bush.  Wolfowitz during the Gulf War failed to persuade the Elder Bush to go beyond driving Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.

Karen Deyoung also stated in her previously referenced article, "In mid 1999, he (Wolfowitz) joined the George W. Bush campaign team for which he was one of the two top foreign policy advisers along with Condoleezza Rice."

Rumsfeld brought Wolfowitz to the Pentagon after the September 11 attack.  It was Wolfowitz who helped design the strategy for invading Iraq along with fellow neoconservative Richard Perle.

Yes, there was a lot of disgust by member governments over Bush's appointment of Wolfowitz as World Bank President.  

The revelation that Wolfowitz's girlfriend got a hefty salary raise with his help was hastily followed by even more shocking charges.

According to Karen Deyoung, "Wolfowitz unilaterally cancelled loans in Cambodia, the Congo Republic, India, Kenya and other countries on corruption grounds."

The World Bank's executive board hastily rejected these proposals.

When Wolfowitz first assumed his role of World Bank President he said that he planned to limit his travel.  However, what actually happened horrified Bank officials.  When his logistics for an African trip seemed troublesome, Wolfowitz said he would simply jump on a U.S. Defense Department plane.

What a colorful entourage Wolfowitz packed on his plane jaunts.  He had Kevin Kellems join him by way of Vice President Cheney's office to manage his public persona image.  Bank employees and managers were not fond of Kellems.  They also disliked Robin Cleveland, who was a former White House office manager.  Cleveland was brought on board his plane as a so-called "senior counselor."  

Robin Cleveland had no international experience and was considered by many to be abrasive.

Finally the big bad Wolfowitz will be resigning from the World Bank presidency June 30.  The result is another Bush casualty.  Good riddance!