Paul Wolfowitz genuinely aspired to help Africa develop, but he ended up
isolated, friendless and vulnerable; receiving no credit for his genuine
accomplishments on the issue he cares about.
Wolfowitz's
enemies were undoubtedly out to get him from the moment the man best known as
the architect of the Iraq war walked through the door of the World Bank. Just
as surely, he has handed them ample cause to demand his resignation as the
bank's president. But the real shame in this story is that Wolfowitz's most
worthwhile initiative — the World Bank's fight against global corruption - may
fall victim to the appearance of corruption in his personal life.
On taking the job in 2005 after stepping down as deputy defense secretary,
Wolfowitz was obliged to do something about his girlfriend. She worked at the
bank, which prohibits relationships between supervisors and those under their
charge. He needed to ask her to find new employment, then recuse himself from
the terms of her severance.
Instead, he arranged for her transfer to the State Department and for an
unusually generous compensation package. This showed a remarkably cavalier
attitude toward insider dealing and spending public money - especially
considering that Wolfowitz has devoted so much energy fighting both on the
global stage.
Like his vision of democracy and human rights in Iraq, Wolfowitz's
insistence on accountability from governments that accept loans from the World
Bank is admirable, even noble. But, as the nation has learned in Iraq, it's
easy to have admirable goals. What's hard is achieving them.
Supporters argue that it was precisely Wolfowitz's zeal in pursuing
corruption that so angered the pampered bureaucrats who judge the World Bank's
success by how much money it disburses to the developing world, not by how
wisely the creditor governments spend. But critics saw ideological bias in the
way he pursued his anti-corruption agenda — stopping collaboration with
kleptocratic governments such as Kenya's, yet forgiving the sins of U.S. allies
such as Tajikistan and Iraq. Wolfowitz's decision to restart lending to Iraq
was particularly controversial in light of its admitted inability to stem
corruption.
Personally approving a raise for his girlfriend, though it falls considerably short of looting the public treasury of a downtrodden country, undermines Wolfowitz's moral authority in cracking down on kleptocrats. Ironically, that is the one role Wolfowitz set as a priority for the president of the World Bank. If he can no longer perform it, then the bank needs someone who can.