Bush gets his hawk in World Bank role

[struggle4progress]

Geoff Elliott, Washington correspondent
April 02, 2005

<snip> Mr Wolfowitz, who replaces Australian-born James Wolfensohn, has lobbied hard in the two weeks since George W. Bush announced his nomination, determined to assuage fears that his appointment was a precursor to the US administration trying to use the bank as an arm of its foreign policy.

Many critics remain convinced that's what Mr Wolfowitz's agenda is. His appointment follows Mr Bush's nomination of another Washington hawk, John Bolton, as ambassador to the UN. <snip>

<snip> Mr Wolfowitz, under the Reagan administration, was a former ambassador to Indonesia during the Suharto regime and who critics claim paid only lip-service to democratic reform there. <snip>

But he has had to fend off political attacks for underestimating the number of US troops needed in Iraq. He famously predicted before the invasion that the operation would generate between $US50 billion and $US100 billion in revenues over two to three years. The number is now reckoned to stand at less than $US20 billion.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12727908%5E2703,00.html