GAHHH! World Bank approves Wolfowitz as prez!
edith head
5,106 Posts
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=630921
World Bank Board Approves Wolfowitz
World Bank Board Approves Paul Wolfowitz to Take Helm of Development Bank
By JEANNINE AVERSA
The Associated Press
Mar. 31, 2005 - The World Bank's board on Thursday unanimously approved the nomination of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, an architect of the Iraq war, to be the next president of the 184-nation development bank.
President Bush earlier this month surprised the international community by recommending Wolfowitz for the job. Wolfowitz's hard-line foreign policy stance has made him a target of critics at home and abroad. Wolfowitz, 61, will take the helm of the development bank on June 1 to serve a five-year term..
The bank's stated mission is to fight poverty and improve the living standards of people in developing countries. It lends around $20 billion a year to developing countries for various projects, including roads, schools and fighting AIDS.
"I want to thank the board for their vote of confidence," Wolfowitz said in a statement after the decision. "It is humbling to be entrusted with the leadership of this critically important international institution."
The United States is the bank's largest shareholder. The bank traditionally has had an American president. The unanimous approval came from the bank's 24-member board.
Since his March 16 nomination by Bush, Wolfowitz, seeking to quell criticism over his selection, has reached out. He has telephoned Bono, the Irish rock star who is a vocal advocate for helping the world's poor. He has met with many countries' representatives to the World Bank and made a trip to Europe, where he won the endorsement of European Union governments. Support from Europe was important because hostility there still lingers over the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Bush's choice of Wolfowitz has especially raised the hackles of some international aid organizations and other groups. They question his development credentials and worry that he would try to use the development bank to help the United States' friends and punish its enemies. Some of those critics showed up on a gray morning to protest the choice of Wolfowitz outside the World Bank's headquarters Thursday.
Wolfowitz has sought to counter those concerns. He has said that poverty reduction and economic development were the bank's core businesses and that he would not pursue any political agenda.
"I really believe the mission of the bank," Wolfowitz had told The Associated Press in a March 16 interview. "I think one of the challenges of the institution, and therefore, for me, is how to make sure it makes the best use of the considerable resources at its disposal, which are both financial and human."
While critics question his development credentials, Wolfowitz has said his management experience at the Pentagon and his diplomatic experience at the State Department prepared him for the job. At State, he was assistant secretary for East Asia and U.S. ambassador to Indonesia.
Wolfowitz also has been criticized on Capitol Hill for underestimating the number of U.S. troops needed in Iraq and for understating, during testimony to a House panel, the number of troops killed in Iraq. He also was criticized for predicting before the invasion that Iraqi oil would generate $50 billion to $100 billion over two to three years, limiting U.S. war costs. Instead, Iraq generated just $17 billion in oil revenues in the first 19 months after the invasion.
The installation of Wolfowitz allows the Bush administration to puts its imprint on the development bank, which employs some 10,000 people worldwide.
James Wolfensohn, the current president, will step down at the end of May, when his second, five-year term concludes.
Wolfensohn helped engineer a number of changes in the bank's philosophy and the way it operates. He pushed to put greater emphasis on "home grown" development planning, trying to connect the bank closer to the countries it seeks to help. He pushed for debt relief for the world's poorest countries. His 1996 "cancer of corruption" speech focused a new light on corruption as an impediment to development that must be addressed.
"I will make every effort to ensure that our transition period is successful, so Paul can hit the ground running on June 1," Wolfensohn said.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright ?? 2005 ABC News Internet Ventures
World Bank Board Approves Wolfowitz
World Bank Board Approves Paul Wolfowitz to Take Helm of Development Bank
By JEANNINE AVERSA
The Associated Press
Mar. 31, 2005 - The World Bank's board on Thursday unanimously approved the nomination of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, an architect of the Iraq war, to be the next president of the 184-nation development bank.
President Bush earlier this month surprised the international community by recommending Wolfowitz for the job. Wolfowitz's hard-line foreign policy stance has made him a target of critics at home and abroad. Wolfowitz, 61, will take the helm of the development bank on June 1 to serve a five-year term..
The bank's stated mission is to fight poverty and improve the living standards of people in developing countries. It lends around $20 billion a year to developing countries for various projects, including roads, schools and fighting AIDS.
"I want to thank the board for their vote of confidence," Wolfowitz said in a statement after the decision. "It is humbling to be entrusted with the leadership of this critically important international institution."
The United States is the bank's largest shareholder. The bank traditionally has had an American president. The unanimous approval came from the bank's 24-member board.
Since his March 16 nomination by Bush, Wolfowitz, seeking to quell criticism over his selection, has reached out. He has telephoned Bono, the Irish rock star who is a vocal advocate for helping the world's poor. He has met with many countries' representatives to the World Bank and made a trip to Europe, where he won the endorsement of European Union governments. Support from Europe was important because hostility there still lingers over the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Bush's choice of Wolfowitz has especially raised the hackles of some international aid organizations and other groups. They question his development credentials and worry that he would try to use the development bank to help the United States' friends and punish its enemies. Some of those critics showed up on a gray morning to protest the choice of Wolfowitz outside the World Bank's headquarters Thursday.
Wolfowitz has sought to counter those concerns. He has said that poverty reduction and economic development were the bank's core businesses and that he would not pursue any political agenda.
"I really believe the mission of the bank," Wolfowitz had told The Associated Press in a March 16 interview. "I think one of the challenges of the institution, and therefore, for me, is how to make sure it makes the best use of the considerable resources at its disposal, which are both financial and human."
While critics question his development credentials, Wolfowitz has said his management experience at the Pentagon and his diplomatic experience at the State Department prepared him for the job. At State, he was assistant secretary for East Asia and U.S. ambassador to Indonesia.
Wolfowitz also has been criticized on Capitol Hill for underestimating the number of U.S. troops needed in Iraq and for understating, during testimony to a House panel, the number of troops killed in Iraq. He also was criticized for predicting before the invasion that Iraqi oil would generate $50 billion to $100 billion over two to three years, limiting U.S. war costs. Instead, Iraq generated just $17 billion in oil revenues in the first 19 months after the invasion.
The installation of Wolfowitz allows the Bush administration to puts its imprint on the development bank, which employs some 10,000 people worldwide.
James Wolfensohn, the current president, will step down at the end of May, when his second, five-year term concludes.
Wolfensohn helped engineer a number of changes in the bank's philosophy and the way it operates. He pushed to put greater emphasis on "home grown" development planning, trying to connect the bank closer to the countries it seeks to help. He pushed for debt relief for the world's poorest countries. His 1996 "cancer of corruption" speech focused a new light on corruption as an impediment to development that must be addressed.
"I will make every effort to ensure that our transition period is successful, so Paul can hit the ground running on June 1," Wolfensohn said.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright ?? 2005 ABC News Internet Ventures
Comments
No shame. These guys have NO SHAME.
Well, i'm glad that's taken care of.
Dude, that would be sweet!
When I read the article I couldn't help bunch envision a bunch of school yard children behaving recklessly and competing to see who can outdo each other.
I swear the majority of the these institutions consist of nothing but a bunch of sad adults whom are enormously fucked up emotionally, psychologically and are just further fucking the next generation(which will in turn effect the next generation ... ad infinitum)
Seriously, when are people going to realize that the majority of what they read are lies?
At least the Wolfman would make the inevitable march to the apocalypse interesting....
AWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!![/b]
It is depressing and infuriating that Wolfowitz is going to president (how come it feels like we just keep taking steps back and none forward?), but he's a perfect fit for the job given their history.
A lot of DC folks work over there...I wonder how they're feeling right now.
mcnamara 2.0
bullshit of the highest order. the way he's handled this, the un, the dept. of interior, justice dept., etc. etc., next bush will be nominating judges that wipe their ass with the constitution. another four years of this to look forward to ...
Same old. Same old.
Bolton going to the UN will be much worse.[/b]
"John Bolton is the kind of man with whom I would want to stand at Armageddon, if it should be my lot to be on hand for what is forecast to be the final battle between good and evil in this world."
--Jesse Helms, January 2001
beat me to it.
Is that one of him flipping the bird a Photoshop or is it real? If it's real - who's it aimed at?
In responce to the fact that Wolfy has no economic experience what so ever........
"He has experience running big organization, The World Bank is a big place......uhhhh...the Pentagon is a big place" - GW Bush
(paraphrasing) 'Their is no reason tobelieve that Iraq won't be able to easily pay it's own bills for reconstuction, that country has big oil reservse that will be able to cover the costs' - Wolfowitz telling congress on why we should go to war and it won't cost us a penny
the thing about this that pisses me off more than anything is the lack of dissent. everyone is just rolling over on this. unanimous vote on his confirmation -- c'mon europe, get some balls. the wall street journal endorsed him despite the fact that he has no background in banking or economics and his last big economic prediction/decision, the iraq war, was off by 300+ BILLION AND COUNTING. if he pulled that as CEO of "a large organization" they would be crying for his head, but they know he is gonna be great for their constituency -- big biz wins and the poor get fucked -- again.
We are just being battered.
The Senate is preparing to eliminate the filbuster, opening the door to judges far to the right of the ones Bush has already appointed. Once they get that done they can dismantle the Endangered Species Act and the 40 hour week while the Dems just stand by and watch bound and gaged.
We are never going to not be at war as long Bush and Rummy are running things.
Social Security and the idea of a social saftey net will soon be a thing of the past.
Basic rights for gays are being rolled back.
While Bolton, Rice and Wolfowitz run around saying they want to repair alliances their ever action is aimed at the oppissite.
We are pulling out of arms agreements and moving toward a new generation of nuclear weapons.
Coal and nuclear power is being called ineviable and nessascary as enviormental safegards are being dismantled.
It will be years before ANWA produces any oil, but just off shore of a beach near you they could be pumping oil in a year or 2.
The Civil Rights Commision is spending it's time dismantling basic rights and enforecements.
Unable to get his faith based inititave through the senate Bush has simple set up offices inside goverment bureaus that are funneling money directly to churchs to do with what they want.
And the list just goes on and on. Meanwhile we are so concerned watching Schivo and the Pope die we aren't even paying attention to the rest of this shit.
I think the world is so shell shocked that we just can't see a line of attack against an enemy who is all powerful and one step ahead. Besides, it's not like the world bank has been a bastion of progressivness.
Dan
That is a very good point that we're over looking just to bash this guy. The world bank sucks ass and has been asaulting "3rd world" countries with western economic bullshit for a long time. Their motto should be "Well claim to get you out of debt by putting you farther in debt than your poor farming asses ever thought was possible. So your only way out is to let a bunch of western corprate bastards take over your counry and ship all profit to us."
In other words.....Wolfy will fit right in.