Thursday, September 14, 2006

Oh the Irony of It!

New York Times headline today: “Wolfowitz Corruption Drive Rattles World Bank” Lead paragraphs: “In his first 15 months as president of the World Bank, Paul D. Wolfowitz has made the fight against corruption in poor countries a hallmark issue, waging an aggressive campaign that has led to the suspension of hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and contracts to nations including India, Chad, Kenya, Congo, Ethiopia and Bangladesh. “It is a new incarnation for Mr. Wolfowitz, a neoconservative intellectual who was a primary architect of the Iraq war during four years as deputy secretary of defense.” Paul Wolfowitz, you may remember, was a signer of the Project for the New American Century Statement of Principles on June 3, 1997 which advocated pre-emptive strikes against small countries as a means of furthering US plans for global supremacy. On October 29, 2005, TruthOut quoted Elizabeth Varga: “From the fall of 2001 to at least March 2003, the following officials, and others, made hundreds of false assertions in speeches, on television, at the United Nations, to foreign leaders and to Congress: President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his Under Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz. Their statements were remarkably consistent and consistently false.” On December 28, 2005 Congressman (D-MI) John Conyers released a report that said the Bush Administration leaked classified information to support its case that Iraq was a threat to the United States. Conyers said, "Subsequent media accounts have traced the story, at least in part, to Paul Wolfowitz.” But now, Wolfowitz is so concerned about the evils of corruption that he is suspending loans to third world countries until they cleanse themselves of sleazy practices. The NYT article about Wolfowitz’s crusade against corruption goes on to say: “Distrust of Mr. Wolfowitz remains high…The doubts center on Mr. Wolfowitz’s role as a leading advocate of the American invasion of Iraq, with many critics contending that his zeal on corruption reminds them of what they say was his messianic but unrealistic faith that installing democracy by force in Iraq, and by other means through the Middle East, would bring stability to the region.” Well, you can’t keep a lying, messianic zealot down. Just ask Joe Lieberman.

1 comment:

Charles D said...

It should be obvious that Paul D. Wolfowitz is not at all concerned by "corruption" in poor countries. Since he clearly supports corruption in rich countries (at least his own), we can be sure this is another instance in which a neocon.

Consider this from British international development minister Hillary Benn:

"While accepting the need for punitive measures where corruption is clearly present, Mr Benn said he believes the World Bank is placing too much pressure on countries to comply with its wishes on internal economic matters.

'When it comes to economic policy choices and in particular things like privatisation and trade liberalisation then I don’t think that it is right we should be telling other countries what to do,' Mr Benn said.

'The UK doesn't do that any more with its aid. Last year the World Bank adopted a new set of principles which said that these conditions should reflect the priorities that countries set for themselves in economic policy.'

'The trouble is that we haven’t yet seen how these principles are being put into practice,' he said.

So I think it's likely that the "anti-corruption drive" is nothing more than a smokescreen for Wolfie's failure to enforce policies of the World Bank that he doesn't agree with. Much like Bush ignoring the Constitution when it conflicts with his gut.