Wolfowitz at the World Bank

Paul Wolfowitz, the Bush-appointed World Bank president and former architect of the invasion of Iraq, is in trouble at the World Bank over dealings surrounding his girlfriend, Shaha Riza. When Wolfowitz became president at the Bank, conflicts of interest forced Riza to leave, however Wolfowitz secured for her a cushy State Department job making over $190,000 a year -- more than the Secretary of State.

In an already-unfriendly environment -- Wolfowitz's involvement with the invasion of Iraq and his political ties earned him more than a few enemies in the Bank -- this apparently unethical behavior has led to an explosion of criticism from Bank employees, with some even openly jeering Wolfowitz at the World Bank. It seems increasingly likely that Wolfowitz may fall prey to his own hard-line stance of "zero tolerance" for corruption among Bank employees -- a policy which has already led to the forced resignations of a number of Bank employees over conflict-of-interest charges.

Wolfowitz's critics claim that his actions have undermined confidence in the Bank and have endangered its reputation. Critics have also called Wolfowitz intellectually arrogant, and have expressed unease at his unwillingness to accept the expertise of others in the institution when it runs afoul of his own estimations. Considering Wolfowitz's wildly inaccurate predictions regarding the Iraq war (Iraqi oil would totally finance the war, the war would be quick and easy, etc), which he stated as incontestable fact in the lead-up to the war, this would not be the first time Wolfowitz's honesty and intellectual capacity were called into question.

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