Paul Wolfowitz

Infobox_Politician
name = Paul Wolfowitz

---

birth_date = birth date and age|1943|12|22
birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
residence = Chevy Chase, Maryland, U.S.
nationality = American
religion = Jewish
death_date =
death_place =
office = 10th President of the World Bank Group
salary = $302,470 USD
term_start = June 1, 2005
term_end = June 30, 2007
predecessor = James Wolfensohn
successor = Robert Zoellick
office2 = 25th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
term_start2 = 2001
term_end2 = 2005
predecessor2 = Rudy de Leon
successor2 = Gordon R. England
constituency =
majority =
party = Republican (before 1981 Democrat).
spouse = Clare Selgin Wolfowitz (1968–2001 [separated] )
children = Sara, David, Rachel
website = http://www.aei.org

Paul Dundes Wolfowitz (born December 22, 1943) is a former United States Ambassador to Indonesia, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, and President of the World Bank. He is currently a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, working on issues of international economic development, Africa and public-private partnerships.Zachary A. Goldfarb, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/02/AR2007070201641.html "Wolfowitz Joins Think Tank as Visiting Scholar"] , online posting, "The New Yorker", July 3, 2007, accessed July 3, 2007.]

As Deputy Secretary of Defense, he was "a major architect of President Bush's Iraq policy and ... its most fanatical and hawkish advocate."Peter J. Boyer, [http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/041101fa_fact "The Believer: Paul Wolfowitz Defends His War"] , online posting, "The New Yorker", November 1, 2004, accessed June 20, 2007 (7 pages).] John Cassidy, [http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/09/070409fa_fact_cassidy "The Next Crusade: Paul Wolfowitz at the World Bank"] , online posting, "The New Yorker", April 9, 2007, accessed May 7, 2007.] Cf. Amy Goodman, [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/17/1442215 "Bush Names Iraq War Architect Paul Wolfowitz to Head World Bank"] , transcript, "Democracy Now!", March 17, 2005, accessed May 17, 2007.] Cf. Ibrahim Warde, [http://www.spokesmanbooks.com/Spokesman/PDF/spk%2082%20Pages%20016%20to%20022.pdf "Iraq: Looter's License"] , 16-22 in " [http://www.coronetbooks.com/books/a/amer6915.htm America's Gulag] : Full Spectrum Dominance Versus Universal Human Rights", ed. Ken Coates (London: Spokesman Books, 2004), ISBN 0851246915.] After serving two years, he resigned as president of the World Bank Group "ending a protracted and tumultuous battle over his stewardship, sparked by a promotion he arranged for his companion."Matthew Jones, [http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKSP8524620070518 "Wolfowitz Exit Seen Clearing Way for Progress"] , "Reuters" (UK), May 18, 2007, accessed May 18, 2007.]

Personal history

The second child of Jacob "Jack" Wolfowitz (1910–1981) and Lillian Dundes, Paul Wolfowitz "was born in Brooklyn, New York, into a Polish Jewish immigrant family, and grew up mainly in Ithaca, New York, where his father was a professor of statistical theory at Cornell University."Suzanne Goldenberg, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1449631,00.html "Guardian Profile: Paul Wolfowitz"] , "The Guardian", April 1, 2005, accessed May 1, 2007.] David Dudley, [http://cornellalumnimagazine.com/Archive/2004Julaug/features/Feature.html "Paul's Choice"] , "Cornell Alumni Magazine Online" 107.1 (July/August 2004), accessed May 17, 2007.] "In addition to being prolific in research" and "very well read," according to Shelemyahu Zacks, Jacob Wolfowitz "fought at the time for the liberation of Soviet Jewry. He was a friend and strong supporter of the state of Israel, AIPAC member and had many friends and admirers there."Shelemyahu Zacks, [http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/jwolfowitz.html "Biographical Memories: Jacob Wolfowitz (March 19, 1910–July 16, 1981)"] , "National Academy of Sciences", n.d., accessed May 3, 2007.] Strongly influenced by his father, according to Eric Schmitt, Paul Wolfowitz became "a soft-spoken former aspiring-mathematician-turned-policymaker ... [whose] world views ... were forged by family history and in the halls of academia rather than in the jungles of Vietnam or the corridors of Congress ... [His father] ... escaped Poland after World War I. The rest of his father's family and their diamonds perished in the Holocaust."Eric Schmitt, [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E1DB113FF931A15757C0A9649C8B63 "The Busy Life of Being a Lightning Rod for Bush"] , "The New York Times", April 22, 2002, accessed March 24, 2008.] As a boy, Wolfowitz devoured books about the Holocaust and Hiroshima—what he calls 'the polar horrors'".Peter J. Boyer, [http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?041101fa_fact "The Believer: Paul Wolfowitz Defends His War"] , online posting, "The New Yorker", November 1, 2004, accessed June 20, 2007 (7 pages).] Speaking of the influence of the Holocaust on his views, Wolfowitz said:

"That sense of what happened in Europe in World War II has shaped a lot of my views ... It's a very bad thing when people exterminate other people, and people persecute minorities. It doesn't mean you can prevent every such incident in the world, but it's also a mistake to dismiss that sort of concern as merely humanitarian and not related to real interest."

Before first moving to Ithaca, in the fall of 1952 for his father's new post, the Wolfowitzes lived in Manhattan: "I was born in Brooklyn but we grew up in Manhattan, one block down on Morningside Drive ... from the President of Columbia who for part of that time was Dwight Eisenhower." After teaching for a year at Cornell, his father took a year long sabbatical and was accompanied by his family, spending half the time at UCLA, and half at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 1957, Paul Wolfowitz lived in Israel, while his father was a visiting professor at the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion IIT), in Haifa.

Wolfowitz took classes at Cornell University while still a student at Ithaca High School. [Associated Press, [http://cornellsun.com/node/22943 "Paul Wolfowitz '65 Sparks Controversy at World Bank"] , "Cornell Daily Sun", April 17, 2007, accessed May 19, 2007.] In the mid-1960s, while they were both undergraduate students at Cornell, he met Clare Selgin, who later became an anthropologist. They married in 1968, had three children, lived in Chevy Chase, Maryland, separated in 1999, and, according to some sources, became legally separated in 2001 and divorced in 2002.

In late 1999, Wolfowitz began dating Shaha Ali Riza. Their relationship led to controversy later, during his presidency of the World Bank Group.

Wolfowitz speaks five languages in addition to English; "Wolfowitz taught himself Arabic in the 1980's, when he was working at the State Department," and "He also speaks French, German, Hebrew, and Indonesian."

Post-secondary education

Cornell University

Wolfowitz entered Cornell University in 1961, on full scholarship. He was a member of the Telluride Association, a non-profit organization founded in 1910. He lived in the Telluride House through academic year 1962 to 1963, while philosophy professor Allan Bloom served as a faculty mentor living in the house. Schmitt observes that Wolfowitz first "became a protégé of the political philosopher Allan Bloom, and then of Albert Wohlstetter, the father of hard-line conservative strategic thinking at the University of Chicago." In August 1963, "when he was nineteen, he and his mother attended the civil-rights march on Washington organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. and others".

Though he "majored in mathematics and chemistry ... he was profoundly moved by John Hersey's "Hiroshima" and shifted his focus toward politics. 'One of the things that ultimately led me to leave mathematics and go into political science was thinking I could prevent nuclear war,' he said."

Wolfowitz graduated in 1965 with a Bachelor's degree degree in mathematics and chemistry. Against his father's wishes, Wolfowitz decided to go to graduate school to study politics.

University of Chicago

Following his graduation from Cornell, Wolfowitz attended the University of Chicago in order to study under Leo Strauss. He completed his PhD dissertation under Albert Wohlstetter. In the summer of 1969, Wohlstetter arranged for his students Wolfowitz, Wilson, and Richard Perle to join the Committee to Maintain a Prudent Defense Policy which was set up by Cold War architects Paul Nitze and Dean Acheson.

From 1970 to 1972, Wolfowitz taught in the Department of Political Science at Yale University, where one of his students was I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. [http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1390 "Profile: Paul Wolfowitz] , "Right Web" (International Relations Center), updated April 19, 2007, accessed May 21, 2007.]

In 1972, Wolfowitz earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago, writing his doctoral dissertation on "nuclear proliferation in the Middle East".Wolfowitz, Paul. "Nuclear Proliferation in the Middle East: The Politics and Economics of Proposals for Nuclear Desalting." Diss. University of Chicago, 1972.]

Career

Arms Control and Disarmament Agency

In the 1970s Wolfowitz served as an aide to Democratic Senator Henry M. Jackson, who influenced several neoconservatives, including Wolfowitz and Richard Perle. Jackson "was the quintessential 'Cold War liberal.' He was an outspoken and influential advocate of increased military spending and a hard line against the Soviet Union, while supporting social welfare programs, civil rights, and the labor movement."Kit Oldham, [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5516 "Cyberpedia Library: Jackson, Henry M. 'Scoop' (1912–1983): HistoryLink.org Essay 5516"] , "historylink.org" ("The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History"), August 19, 2003, accessed May 17, 2007.]

In 1972 U.S. President Richard Nixon, under pressure from Senator Jackson, dismissed the head of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) and replaced him with Fred Ikle. Ikle brought in a new team including Wolfowitz. Wolfowitz wrote research papers and drafted testimony, as he had previously done at the Committee to Maintain a Prudent Defense Policy. He traveled with Ikle to strategic arms limitations talks in Paris and other European cities. He helped dissuade South Korea from reprocessing plutonium that could be diverted into a clandestine weapons program.

Under President Gerald Ford, the American intelligence agencies had come under attack over their annually published National Intelligence Estimate. According to Mann: "The underlying issue was whether the C.I.A. and other agencies were underestimating the threat from the Soviet Union, either by intentionally tailoring intelligence to support Kissinger's policy of détente or by simply failing to give enough weight to darker interpretations of Soviet intentions." In an attempt to counter these claims, the newly appointed Director of Central Intelligence, George H.W. Bush authorized the formation of a committee of anti-Communist experts, headed by Richard Pipes, to reassess the raw data. Richard Pipes picked Wolfowitz, to serve on this committee, which came to be known as Team B: "'Richard Perle recommended him,' Pipes says of Wolfowitz today [2003, as quoted by Tanenhaus] . 'I'd never heard of him.'"Sam Tanenhaus, [http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2003/11/02/the_hard_liner/ "The Hard Liner:] ]

The team's report, delivered in 1976 and quickly leaked to the press, stated that "All the evidence points to an undeviating Soviet commitment to what is euphemistically called the 'worldwide triumph of socialism,' but in fact connotes global Soviet hegemony," highlighting a number of key areas where they believed the government's intelligence analysts had got it wrong. According to Jack Davis, Wolfowitz observed later:

The B-Team demonstrated that it was possible to construct a sharply different view of Soviet motivation from the consensus view of the [intelligence] analysts and one that provided a much closer fit to the Soviets' observed behavior (and also provided a much better forecast of subsequent behavior up to and through the invasion of Afghanistan). The formal presentation of the competing views in a session out at [CIA headquarters in] Langley also made clear that the enormous experience and expertise of the B-Team as a group were formidable.Qtd. by Jack Davis, [https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/96unclass/davis.htm "The Challenge of Managing Uncertainty:] Paul Wolfowitz on Intelligence-Policy Relations", "Studies in Intelligence" 39.5 (1996): 35-42, accessed May 21, 2007. ("Jack Davis served in the Directorate of Intelligence.") [Corrected title.] ]

The work of Team B, the accuracy of its conclusions, and its effects on U.S. military policies remain controversial. [http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1318 "Profile: Richard Pipes"] , "Right Web" (International Relations Center), last updated December 12, 2003, accessed May 21, 2007.] Tom Barry, [http://rightweb.irc-online.org/analysis/2004/0402teamb.php "A History of Threat Escalation: Remembering Team B"] , "Right Web", International Relations Center, February 12, 2004, accessed May 21, 2007.]

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Regional Programs

In 1977, during the administration of U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Wolfowitz moved to The Pentagon. He was employed as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Regional Programs for the U.S. Defense Department, under then U.S. Secretary of Defense Harold Brown.

In early 1980, Wolfowitz resigned from the Pentagon and went to work as a visiting professor at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. According to the "Washington Post"; "He said it was not he who changed his political philosophy so much as the Democratic Party, which abandoned the hard-headed internationalism of Harry Truman, Kennedy and Jackson."Michael Dobbs, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A43339-2003Apr6&notFound=true "For Wolfowitz, a Vision May Be Realized"] , "The Washington Post",April 7, 2003, accessed April 16, 2007.]

tate Department Director of Policy Planning

In 1980, following the election of U.S. President Ronald Reagan, the newly appointed U.S. National Security Advisor Richard V. Allen put together the administration's foreign policy advisory team. Allen initially rejected Wolfowitz’s appointment but following discussions, instigated by former colleague John Lehman, Allen offered Wolfowitz the position of Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department.

President Reagan’s foreign policy was heavily influenced by the Kirkpatrick Doctrine, as outlined in a 1979 article in "Commentary" by Jeanne Kirkpatrick entitled "Dictatorships and Double Standards".

Although most governments in the world are, as they always have been, autocracies of one kind or another, no idea hold greater sway in the mind of educated Americans than the belief that it is possible to democratize governments, anytime, anywhere, under any circumstances.... (But) decades, if not centuries, are normally required for people to acquire the necessary disciplines and habits.

Wolfowitz broke from this official line by denouncing Saddam Hussein of Iraq at a time when Donald Rumsfeld was offering the dictator support in his conflict with Iran. James Mann points out: "quite a few neo-conservatives, like Wolfowitz, believed strongly in democratic ideals; they had taken from the philosopher Leo Strauss the notion that there is a moral duty to oppose a leader who is a 'tyrant.'" Other areas where Wolfowitz disagreed with the administration was in his opposition to attempts to open up dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and to the sale of Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft to Saudi Arabia. "In both instances," according to Mann, "Wolfowitz demonstrated himself to be one of the strongest supporters of Israel in the Reagan administration."

Mann stresses: "It was on China that Wolfowitz launched his boldest challenge to the established order." After Nixon and Kissinger had gone to China in the early 70s, U.S. policy was to make concessions to China as an essential Cold War ally. The Chinese were now pushing for the U.S. to end arms sales to Taiwan, and Wolfowitz used the Chinese incentive as an opportunity to undermine Kissinger's foreign policy toward China. Instead, Wolfowitz advocated a unilateralist policy, claiming that the U.S. did not need China’s assistance but that the Chinese needed the U.S. to protect them against the far-more-likely prospect of a Soviet invasion of the Chinese mainland. Wolfowitz soon came into conflict with U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig, who had been Kissinger’s assistant at the time of the visits to China. On March 30, 1982, "The New York Times" predicted that "Paul D. Wolfowitz, the director of policy planning ... will be replaced," because "Mr. Haig found Mr. Wolfowitz too theoretical." Instead, on June 25, 1982, George Schultz replaced Haig as U.S. Secretary of State, and Wolfowitz was promoted.

tate Department Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs

In 1982 the new U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz appointed Wolfowitz as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Jeane Kirkpatrick, on a visit to the Philippines, had been eagerly welcomed by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos who quoted heavily from her 1979 "Commentary" article "Dictatorships and Double Standards" and although Kirkpatrick had been forced to speak-out in favor of democracy the article continued to influence Reagan’s policy toward Marcos. Following the assassination of Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. in 1983 many within the Reagan administration including the President himself began to fear that the Philippines could fall to the communists and the U.S. military would lose its strongholds at Clark Air Force Base and Subic Bay Naval Station. Wolfowitz tried to re-orient the administration’s policy, stating in an April 15, 1985 article in "The Wall Street Journal" that "The best antidote to Communism is democracy."

In pursuance of this policy Wolfowitz and his assistant Lewis Libby made trips to Manila where they called for democratic reforms and met with non-communist opposition leaders but the approach was still very soft.

Mann points out that "the Reagan administration’s decision to support democratic government in the Philippines had been hesitant, messy, crisis-driven and skewed by the desire to do what was necessary to protect the American military installations." Following massive street protests, Marcos fled the country on a U.S. Air Force plane and the U.S. recognized the government of Corazón Aquino.

Ambassador to the Republic of Indonesia

From 1986 to 1989, during the military-backed government of President Suharto, Wolfowitz was the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Indonesia.AP, http://www.asiademocracy.org/content_view.php?section_id=1&content_id=430 "Indonesian Rights Groups Denounce Wolfowitz' World Bank Nomination"] , online posting, "Alliance for Reform and Democracy in Asia", March 22, 2005, accessed June 20, 2007.]

According to Peter J. Boyer, in his "New Yorker" profile of Wolfowitz,

Wolfowitz’s appointment to Indonesia was not an immediately obvious match. He was a Jew representing America in the largest Muslim republic in the world, an advocate of democracy in Suharto's dictatorship. But Wolfowitz’s tenure as Ambassador was a notable success, largely owing to the fact that, in essence, he went native. With tutoring help from his driver, he learned the language, and hurled himself into the culture. He attended academic seminars, climbed volcanoes, and toured the neighborhoods of Jakarta.

Sipress and Nakashima report that "Wolfowitz's colleagues and friends, both Indonesian and American" pointed to the "U.S. envoy's quiet pursuit of political and economic reforms in Indonesia." According to the Associated Press, however, in their opposition to Wolfowitz's later appointment to the presidency of the World Bank, "Analysts in Indonesia ... say the candidate has a poor track record in other areas crucial to the World Bank, such as fighting graft and respect for human rights."

Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a foreign policy adviser to B J Habibie, Suharto's successor as head of state (1998–1999), stated "that Wolfowitz was a competent and popular envoy," and "he was extremely able and very much admired and well-liked on a personal level," Adding however, "he never intervened to push human rights or stand up to corruption."

As Suzanne Goldenberg observes,

some who acknowledge his popularity also discount the argument that Wolfowitz used his influence as an envoy to press for change. ... "It is really too much to claim that he played any kind of role in leading Indonesia to democracy," says Jeffrey Winters, an expert on Indonesia at Chicago's Northwestern University, who was in the country at the time.... "The real record when you dig into it is that he was very slow to respond to Indonesia's movement for democracy. Indonesia's citizens across the spectrum had been struggling against authoritarian rule. They had been tortured. They had been jailed. They had been ruined in various ways, and the Wolfowitz embassy didn't speak up for them - not once. ... He adds: "He had his chance, and he toed the Reagan hawkish line." The World Bank will be watching for far more than that from Wolfowitz.

Officials involved in the AID program during Wolfowitz's tenure told Alan Sipress and Ellen Nakashima of "The Washington Post" that he "took a keen personal interest in development, including health care, agriculture and private sector expansion" and that "Wolfowitz canceled food assistance to the Indonesian government out of concern that Suharto's family, which had an ownership interest in the country's only flour mill, was indirectly benefiting."Alan Sipress and Ellen Nakashima, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5475-2005Mar27.html "Jakarta Tenure Offers Glimpse of Wolfowitz"] , "The Washington Post", March 28, 2005, accessed April 16, 2007.]

In "The Tragedy of Suharto", published in May 1998, in "The Wall Street Journal", Wolfowitz states:

Although it is fashionable to blame all of Asia's present problems on corruption and the failure of Asian values, it is at bottom a case of a bubble bursting, of too many imprudent lenders chasing too many incautious borrowers. But the greed of Mr. Suharto's children ensured that their father would take the lion's share of the blame for Indonesia's financial collapse. The Suharto children's favored position became a major obstacle to the measures needed to restore economic confidence. Worst of all, they ensured that the economic crisis would be a political crisis as well. That he allowed this, and that he amassed such wealth himself, is all the more mysterious since he lived a relatively modest life.Paul Wolfowitz, [http://www.tempointeraktif.com/ang/min/03/14/kolom3.htm "The Tragedy of Suharto"] , "The Wall Street Journal", May 27, 1998, accessed April 16, 2007.]

After the 2002 Bali bombing, on October 18, 2002, then Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz observed that "the reason the terrorists are successful in Indonesia is because the Suharto regime fell and the methods that were used to suppress them are gone."As qtd. in Scott Burchill, [http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=4291 "What the West Wants from Indonesia"] m "Z Magazine", October 1, 2003, accessed June 7, 2007.]

Undersecretary of Defense for Policy

From 1989 to 1993, Wolfowitz served in the administration of George H.W. Bush as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, under then U.S. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney.

During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Wolfowitz’s team co-ordinated and reviewed military strategy, raising $50 billion in allied financial support for the operation. Wolfowitz was present with Cheney, Colin Powell and others, on 27 February 1991 at the meeting with the President where it was decided that the troops should be demobilised.

On February 25, 1998, Wolfowitz testified before a congressional committee that he thought that "the best opportunity to overthrow Saddam was, unfortunately, lost in the month right after the war."Transcript of hearing, Committee on International Relations, [http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa48782.000/hfa48782_0.htm "U.S. Options in Confronting Iraq"] , February 25, 1998, accessed April 17, 2007.] Wolfowitz added that he was horrified in March as "Saddam Hussein flew helicopters that slaughtered the people in the south and in the north who were rising up against him, while American fighter pilots flew overhead, desperately eager to shoot down those helicopters, and not allowed to do so." During that hearing, he also stated: "Some people might say—and I think I would sympathise with this view—that perhaps if we had delayed the ceasefire by a few more days, we might have got rid of [Saddam Hussein] ."

After the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Wolfowitz and his then-assistant Scooter Libby wrote the Wolfowitz Doctrine to "set the nation’s direction for the next century." At that time the official administration line was "containment", and the contents of Wolfowitz’s plan calling for "preemption" and "unilateralism" which was opposed by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell and President Bush. Defense Secretary Cheney produced a revised plan released in 1992.

After the election of U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1992, Wolfowitz left government until 2000. During the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, from 2000 to 2007, many of the ideas in the Wolfowitz Doctrine became part of what is called the Bush Doctrine.

Out of office

From 1994 to 2001, Wolfowitz served as Professor of International Relations and Dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. He was instrumental in adding more than $75 million to the university's endowment, developing an international finance concentration as part of the curriculum, and combining the various Asian studies programs into one department. Drawing upon his political and defense experience, he also served as a foreign policy advisor to Bob Dole on the 1996 U.S. Presidential election campaign.Facts|date=May 2007

According to Kampfner, "Wolfowitz used his perch at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies as a test-bed for a new conservative world vision." Wolfowitz was associated with the Project for the New American Century (PNAC); he signed both the PNAC's June 3, 1997 "Statement of Principles",Elliott Abrams, et al., [http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm "Statement of Principles"] , "Project for the New American Century", June 3, 1997, accessed May 27, 2007.] which begins by stating:

American foreign and defense policy is adrift. Conservatives have criticized the incoherent policies of the Clinton Administration. They have also resisted isolationist impulses from within their own ranks. But conservatives have not confidently advanced a strategic vision of America's role in the world.... We aim to change this. We aim to make the case and rally support for American global leadership.

and its January 26, 1998 "open letter to President Bill Clinton", which begins by stating: "We are writing you because we are convinced that current American policy toward Iraq is not succeeding, and that we may soon face a threat in the Middle East more serious than any we have known since the end of the Cold War."Elliott Abrams, et al., [http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm "Open letter to President Bill Clinton,"] "Project for the New American Century", January 26, 1998, accessed May 24, 2007.]

In February 1998 Wolfowitz testified before a Congressional hearing, stating that the current administration lacked the sense of purpose to "liberate ourselves, our friends and allies in the region, and the Iraqi people themselves from the menace of Saddam Hussein." [U.S. House Committee on International Relations, [http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa48782.000/hfa48782_0.htm "U.S. Options in Confrtonting Iraq"] , February 25, 1998, accessed April 18, 2007.] In his testimony, he lamented the decision at the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War to call for a ceasefire before attempting to achieve those goals. Wolfowitz urged the administration to support Iraqi opposition groups, in particular the INC of Ahmed Chalabi with arms, intelligence and financing as a way of overthrowing the current regime without risking American troops.Fact|date=May 2007

In September 2000 the PNAC produced a 90-page report entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century", advocating the redeployment of U.S. troops in permanent bases in strategic locations throughout the world where they can be ready to act to protect U.S. interests abroad." [http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century] ", Project for the New American Century, September 2000, accessed May 14, 2007.] During the 2000 U.S. Presidential election campaign, Wolfowitz served as a foreign policy advisor to George W. Bush as part of the group led by Condoleezza Rice calling itself The Vulcans.Martin Sieff, [http://dir.salon.com/story/books/review/2004/04/08/vulcans/index.html "Mission Accomplished:] Bush's Brain Trust Had a Grand Plan for the Middle East. The Results Are Coming Home Every Day in Body Bags", "Slate", April 8, 2004, accessed May 19, 2007.]

Deputy Secretary of Defense

From 2001 to 2005, during the George W. Bush administration, Wolfowitz served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense reporting to U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

The terrorist attacks of 9-11 was a turning point in administration policy, as Wolfowitz later explained: "9/11 really was a wake up call and that if we take proper advantage of this opportunity to prevent the future terrorist use of weapons of mass destruction that it will have been an extremely valuable wake up call," adding: "if we say our only problem was to respond to 9/11, and we wait until somebody hits us with nuclear weapons before we take that kind of threat seriously, we will have made a very big mistake." [http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2002/t02272002_t0223sf.html "U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Transcript"] of "Wolfowitz interview with the San Francisco Chronicle", conducted by Robert Collier, "Presenter: Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz", press release, "United States Department of Defense", February 23, 2002, accessed May 26, 2007. ["Interview with Robert Collier, San Francisco Chronicle".] ]

In the first emergency meeting of the U.S. National Security Council on the day of the attacks, Rumsfeld asked, "Why shouldn’t we go against Iraq, not just al-Qaeda?" with Wolfowitz adding that Iraq was a "brittle, oppressive regime that might break easily—it was doable," and, according to John Kampfner, "from that moment on, he and Wolfowitz used every available opportunity to press the case." The idea was initially rejected, at the behest of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, but, according to Kampfner, "Undeterred Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz held secret meetings about opening up a second front—against Saddam. Powell was excluded." In such meetings they created a policy that would later be dubbed the Bush Doctrine, centering on "pre-emption", American unilateralism, and the war on Iraq, which the PNAC had advocated in their earlier letters.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. had to deal immediately with the threat of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001. Victory was declared on March 6, 2002. Just under a month later, on October 10, 2001, George Robertson, then Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, went to the Pentagon to offer NATO troops, planes and ships to assist. Wolfowitz rebuffed the offer, saying: "We can do everything we need to." Wolfowitz later announced publicly, according to Kampfner, "that 'allies, coalitions and diplomacy' were of little immediate concern."

Ten months later, on January 15, 2003, with hostilities still continuing, Wolfowitz made a fifteen-hour visit to the Afghan capital, Kabul, and met with the new president Hamid Karzai. Wolfowitz stated, "We’re clearly moving into a different phase, where our priority in Afghanistan is increasingly going to be stability and reconstruction. There’s no way to go too fast. Faster is better." Despite the promises, according to Hersh, "little effort to provide the military and economic resources" necessary for reconstruction was made. This criticism would also re-occur after the U.S. invasion of Iraq later that year.

On April 16, 2002 the National Solidarity Rally for Israel was called in Washington to oppose US pressure on the government of Ariel Sharon. Wolfowitz was the sole representative of the Bush administration to attend, speaking alongside Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. According to Matthew Engel in "The Guardian", the administration had exposed itself to being momentarily characterised as anti-Israel, which would have meant losing votes and financial support.Matthew Engel, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/bush/story/0,,689054,00.html "Bush goes to the dogs"] , "The Guardian", April 23, 2002, accessed April 18, 2007.] As reported by the BBC, Wolfowitz told the crowd that US President George W. Bush "wants you to know that he stands in solidarity with you". [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1931885.stm "Thousands in US rally for Israel"] , "BBC News", April 15, 2002, accessed April 18, 2007.] Sharon Samber and Matthew E. Berger reported for Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) that Wolfowitz continued by saying that "Innocent Palestinians are suffering and dying as well. It is critical that we recognize and acknowledge that fact," before being booed and drowned out by chants of "No more Arafat." [Sharon Samber and Matthew E. Berger, [http://www.ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=36269 "Speakers Stick to Consensus Theme at National Solidarity Rally for Israel] ", "United Jewish Communities" (JTA), April 15, 2002, accessed May 3, 2007.] According to Engel this may have been a turning point that saw a return to a more pro-Israeli position within the administration as Bush feared being outflanked on the right.

Following the declaration of victory in Afghanistan the Bush administration had started to plan for the next stage of the War on Terror. According to John Kampfner, "Emboldened by their experience in Afghanistan, they saw the opportunity to root out hostile regimes in the Middle East and to implant very American interpretations of democracy and free markets, from Iraq to Iran and Saudi Arabia. Wolfowitz epitomised this view." Wolfowitz "saw a liberated Iraq as both paradigm and linchpin for future interventions." The 2003 invasion of Iraq began on March 19.Seymour M. Hersh, [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/05/12/030512fa_fact "Annals of National Security Selective Intelligence:] Donald Rumsfeld Has His Own Special Sources. Are they reliable?" "The New Yorker", May 12, 2003, accessed May 8, 2007.]

Prior to the invasion, Wolfowitz had a plan to sell the war to the administration as well as the general public, as he later stated: "For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction, because it was the one reason everyone could agree on."Qtd. in Associated Press, [http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-05-30-wolfowitz-iraq_x.htm "Wolfowitz Comments Revive Doubts Over Iraq's WMD"] , "USA Today", May 30, 2003, accessed May 8, 2007.] Sam Tanenhaus, [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-7037799_ITM "Bush's Brain Trust"] , "(George W. Bush, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Weekly Standard Editor William Kristol, former Pentagon official Richard Perle)", "Vanity Fair" July 2003, "AccessMyLibrary", July 1, 2003, accessed May 1, 2007.] [http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=2594 "U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Transcript"] of telephone interview of Paul Wolfowitz, conducted by Sam Tanenhaus, "Presenter: Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz", press release, "United States Department of Defense", May 9, 2003, accessed May 2, 2007. ["Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz Interview with Sam Tannenhaus [sic] , Vanity Fair."] ] Danny Postel, [http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5010.htm "Noble Lies and Perpetual War: Leo Strauss, the Neo-cons, and Iraq"] , interview with Shadia Drury, "Open Democracy", October 18, 2003, rpt. in Information Clearing House", October 18, 2003, accessed May 26, 2007.] Cf. Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, "Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq" (New York: Tarcher/Penguin, 2003).] [cite web
url = http://www.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/Search/Results.aspx?SearchTerms_All=&SearchTerms_Phrase=&SearchTerms_None=&SearchTerms_Person=Wolfowitz&SearchTerms_Subject=WMD&SearchTerms_DateFrom=01%2f29%2f2001&SearchTerms_DateTo=11%2f03%2f2007&SearchTerms_OrderBy=Record_Id&DisplayAll=False
title = Iraq: The War Card
accessdate = 2008-02-13
publisher = The Center for Public Integrity]

The job of finding WMD and providing justification for the attack would fall to the intelligence services, but, according to Kampfner, "Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz believed that, while the established security services had a role, they were too bureaucratic and too traditional in their thinking." As a result "they set up what came to be known as the 'cabal', a cell of eight or nine analysts in a new Office of Special Plans (OSP) based in the U.S. Defense Department." According to an unnamed Pentagon source quoted by Hersh, the OSP "was created in order to find evidence of what Wolfowitz and his boss, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, believed to be true—that Saddam Hussein had close ties to Al Qaeda, and that Iraq had an enormous arsenal of chemical, biological, and possibly even nuclear weapons that threatened the region and, potentially, the United States."

Within months of being set-up, the OSP "rivaled both the CIA and the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, the DIA, as President Bush’s main source of intelligence regarding Iraq’s possible possession of weapons of mass destruction and connection with Al Qaeda." Hersh explains that the OSP "relied on data gathered by other intelligence agencies and also on information provided by the Iraqi National Congress, or I.N.C., the exile group headed by Ahmad Chalabi." According to Kampfner, the CIA had ended its funding of the I.N.C. "in the mid-1990s when doubts were cast about Chalabi’s reliability." Nevertheless "as the administration geared up for conflict with Saddam, Chalabi was welcomed in the inner sanctum of the Pentagon" under the auspices of the OSP, and "Wolfowitz did not see fit to challenge any of Chalabi’s information." The actions of the OSP have led to accusation of the Bush administration "fixing intelligence to support policy" with the aim of influencing Congress in its use of the War Powers Act.

Kampfner outlined Wolfowitz’s strategy for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which "envisaged the use of air support and the occupation of southern Iraq with ground troops, to install a new government run by Ahmed Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress." Wolfowitz believed that the operation would require minimal troop deployment, Hersh explains, because "any show of force would immediately trigger a revolt against Saddam within Iraq, and that it would quickly expand." The financial expenditure would be kept low, Kampfner observes, if "under the plan American troops would seize the oil fields around Basra, in the South, and sell the oil to finance the opposition."

During Wolfowitz's pre-war testimony before Congress, he dismissed General Eric K. Shinseki's estimates of the size of the post war occupation force as incorrect and estimated that fewer than 100,000 troops would be necessary in the war. Two days after Shinseki testified, Wolfowitz said to the House Budget Committee on February 27, 2003:

There has been a good deal of comment—some of it quite outlandish—about what our postwar requirements might be in Iraq. Some of the higher end predictions we have been hearing recently, such as the notion that it will take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq, are wildly off the mark. It is hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself and to secure the surrender of Saddam's security forces and his army—hard to imagine.

On October 26, 2003, while in Baghdad staying at the Al-Rashid Hotel Wolfowitz narrowly escaped an attack when six rockets slammed into the floors below his room blowing out the windows and frames. [Jane Arraf, [http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/10/26/otsc.arraf/index.html "Bold, Well-executed Attack"] , "CNN", October 26, 2003, accessed April 18, 2007.] Army Lt. Col. Charles H. Buehring was killed and seventeen others soldiers were wounded. [ [http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2003/nr20031027-0579.html "DoD Identifies Army Casualty"] , "United States Department of Defense", October 27, 2003, accessed April 18, 2007.] Wolfowitz and his DOD staffers escaped unharmed and returned to the United States on October 28, 2003.

President of the World Bank

In March 2005, Wolfowitz was nominated to be president of the World Bank. Criticism of his nomination appeared in the media. [Alan Beattie and Edward Alden, [http://news.ft.com/cms/s/33029996-965b-11d9-8fcc-00000e2511c8.html "Shareholders' dismay at lack of consultation"] , "The Financial Times", March 16, 2005, accessed April 16, 2007.] Nobel Laureate in Economics and former chief economist for the World Bank

In the U.S. there was some praise for the nomination. An editorial in "The Wall Street Journal" states: "Mr. Wolfowitz is willing to speak the truth to power ... he saw earlier than most, and spoke publicly about, the need for dictators to plan democratic transitions. It is the world's dictators who are the chief causes of world poverty. If anyone can stand up to the Robert Mugabes of the world, it must be the man who stood up to Saddam Hussein." [ [http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006432 "Banking on Wolfowitz: And You Thought Iraq Was Difficult"] , "The Wall Street Journal", March 17, 2005, accessed April 16, 2007, Review & Outlook (Past Featured Article), accessed June 8, 2007.]

He was confirmed and became president on June 1, 2005. He soon attended the 31st G8 summit to discuss issues of global climate change and the economic development in Africa. When this meeting was interrupted by the July 7, 2005 London bombings, Wolfowitz was present with other world leaders at the press conference given by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Several of Wolfowitz's initial appointments at the Bank proved controversial, including two US nationals (Robin Cleveland and Kevin Kellems) formerly with the Bush administration, whom he appointed as close advisors with $250,000 tax-free contracts.Karen DeYoung, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401564_pf.html "Wolfowitz Clashed Repeatedly With World Bank Staff: Tenure as President Has Been Rocky"] , "The Washington Post", April 15, 2007: A12, accessed May 1, 2007.] Another appointee, Juan José Daboub was criticized by his colleagues and others for attempts to change policies on family planning and climate change towards a conservative line."Krishna Guha, [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/7aa44b1e-f2a7-11db-a454-000b5df10621.html "Wolfowitz Deputy Under Fire for Climate Change"] , "The Financial Times", April 24, 2007, updated April 25, 2007, accessed May 2, 2007.]

Wolfowitz gave special emphasis to two particular issues. Identifying Sub-Saharan Africa as the region most challenged to improve living standards, he traveled widely in the region. He also made clear his focus on fighting corruption. Several aspects of the latter program raised controversy. Overturning the names produced by a formal search process, he appointed a figure linked to the US Republican party to head the Bank's internal watchdog. Member countries worried that Wolfowitz's willingness to suspend lending to countries on grounds of corruption was vulnerable to selective application in line with US foreign policy interests. In a debate on the proposed Governance and Anti-Corruption Strategy at the Bank's 2006 Annual Meetings, shareholders directed Wolfowitz to undertake extensive consultations and revise the strategy to show how objective measures of corruption would be incorporated into decisions and how the shareholders' representatives on the Bank's Board would play a key role. Following the consultations and revisions, the Board approved a revised strategy in spring 2007.

Recent controversies

Wolfowitz's economic arguments pertaining to the Iraq War

On March 27, 2003, Wolfowitz told a Congressional panel that oil revenue earned by Iraq alone would pay for Iraq's reconstruction after the Iraq war; he testified: "The oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years. Now, there are a lot of claims on that money, but ... We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon.” [ [http://www.ips-dc.org/wolfowitz/tl_01-05.htm "The Wolfowitz Chronology:] An Examination of the Presumptive World Bank President’s Works on Oil, National Security, Development, Corruption, Human Rights, and Debt" (January 2001 – May 2005), "Institute for Policy Studies" (May 2005), accessed April 18, 2007.] Cf. Gore Vidal, [http://www.lawyersagainstthewar.org/articles/vidal.html "The Enemy Within"] , "The Observer", October 27, 2002, Review, accessed May 7, 2007, rpt. in "lawyersagainstthewar.org", accessed May 7, 2007; rpt. as "Goat Song: Unanswered Questions—Before, During, After 9/11", "Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta" (New York: Nation Books/Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002), ISBN 1560255021 (10), ISBN 978-1560255024 (13).] By March 2005, two years later, oil revenues were not paying for the occupation and reconstruction of Iraq, Wolfowitz's estimation of 50 to 100 billion US dollars had not materialized, and, in light of his miscalculation, detractors criticized his appointment to head of the World Bank. [Paul Blustein, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52375-2005Mar20.html "Wolfowitz Strives To Quell Criticism"] , "The Washington Post", March 21, 2005, accessed April 18, 2007.] Though, in 2008, Wolfowitz's estimation of $50 to $100 billion was proven to be right on the money, so to speak, given that soaring oil prices will leave the Iraqi government with a cumulative budget surplus of as much as $79 billion the year’s end. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/world/middleeast/06surplus.html?_r=1&oref=slogin] [http://www.slate.com/id/2197007/]

Wolfowitz's relationship with Shaha Riza

After President George W. Bush's nomination of Wolfowitz as president of the World Bank, journalists reported that Wolfowitz had become involved in a relationship with World Bank Senior Communications Officer (and Acting Manager of External Affairs) for the Middle East and North Africa Regional Office Shaha Ali Riza.Philip Sherwell, [http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040802/asp/foreign/story_3572445.asp "Special 'relationship' Behind US West Asia policy"] , "The Telegraph", August 1, 2002, accessed April 18, 2007.] According to Richard Leiby, of "The Washington Post", Riza is "an Oxford-educated British citizen, was born in Tunisia and grew up in Saudi Arabia. She's known for her expertise on women's rights and has been listed on the bank's Web site as a media contact for Iraq reconstruction issues."Richard Leiby, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55423-2005Mar21.html "Reliable Source: What Will the Neighbors Say?"] , "The Washington Post", March 22, 2007, C-03, accessed May 1, 2007.] According to Leiby and Linton Weeks, in their essay "In the Shadow of a Scandal", Riza's employment at the World Bank predated Wolfowitz's nomination as Bank president: "Riza started at the World Bank as a consultant in July 1997 and became a full-time employee in 1999"; and the relationship between Riza and Wolfowitz pre-dated it as well:

In the early 1990s, Riza joined the National Endowment for Democracy and is credited there with development of the organization's Middle East program. Wolfowitz was on the endowment's board—which is how Riza first met him, according to Turkish journalist Cengiz Candar, a friend of the couple. "Shaha was married at the time and Paul was married," Candar recalled, and it wasn't until late 1999—after Riza divorced and Wolfowitz had separated from his wife of 30 years, Clare Selgin Wolfowitz—that the couple began dating."Linton Weeks and Richard Leiby, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/09/AR2007050902501.html?hpid=topnews "In the Shadow of a Scandal"] , "The Washington Post", May 10, 2007, accessed May 10, 2007. (Page 2 of 3 pages.)]

When Wolfowitz was being considered for head of the CIA immediately after the 2000 election, Clare Wolfowitz wrote President-elect George Bush a letter telling him that her husband's relationship with a foreign national—Riza—posed a national security risk. [ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=342048&in_page_id=1770 Will a British divorcee cost 'Wolfie' his job?] , Sharon Churcher and Annette Witheridge, "The Daily Mail", March 20, 2005.] [ [http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2007/11/09/house_of_bush_3/print.html How Cheney took control of Bush's foreign policy] , Craig Unger, Salon.com, November 9, 2007; [http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Vanity_Fair_contributing_editor_Craig_Unger_on_the_Bush_family_feud%2C_neoconservatives_and_the_Christian_right Interview with Vanity Fair contributing editor Craig Unger] , David Shankbone, "Wikinews", November 12, 2007] It has been reported that Scooter Libby intercepted the letter. [ [http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/bushbeat/archive/2007/06/libby_and_wolfi.php Libby and Wolfie: A Story of Reacharounds] , Ward Harkarvey, "The Village Voice", June 14, 2007.] Sidney Blumenthal also reported on the letter Clare Wolfowitz wrote:

According to the profile of Wolfowitz published in the London "Sunday Times" on March 20, 2005, despite their cultural differences, "Riza, an Arab feminist who confounds portrayals of Wolfowitz as a leader of a 'Zionist conspiracy' of Jewish neoconservatives in Washington ... [and who] works as the bank’s senior gender co-ordinator for the Middle East and north Africa ... not only shares Wolfowitz’s passion for spreading democracy in the Arab world, but is said to have reinforced his determination to remove Saddam Hussein’s oppressive regime." [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2088-1533085,00.html "Profile: Paul Wolfowitz: Hawk with a Lot of Loot Needs a Bit of Lady Luck"] , "The Sunday Times", March 20, 2005, accessed April 18, 2007.]

The reported relationship created further controversy concerning Wolfowitz’s nomination to head the World Bank, because the organization's own ethics rules preclude sexual relationships between a manager and a staff member serving under that manager, even if one reports to the other only indirectly through a chain of supervision. Sharon Churcher and Annette Witheridge, in "The Daily Mail", quote one World Bank employee's statement that "Unless Riza gives up her job, this will be an impossible conflict of interest"; the observation of "a Washington insider": "His womanizing has come home to roost ... Paul was a foreign policy hawk long before he met Shaha, but it doesn't look good to be accused of being under the thumb of your mistress"; and Wolfowitz's response: "If a personal relationship presents a potential conflict of interest, I will comply with Bank policies to resolve the issue."Sharon Churcher and Annette Witheridge, [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=342048&in_page_id=1770 "Will a British Divorcee Cost 'Wolfie' His Job?"] "The Daily Mail", March 20, 2005, accessed April 14, 2007.]

Wolfowitz initially proposed to the World Bank's Ethics Committee that he recuse himself from personnel matters regarding Riza, but the committee rejected that proposal.Greg Hitt, [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117806854490188980.html?mod=googlenews_wsj "World Bank Ex-Board Member Disputes Wolfowitz"] , "The Wall Street Journal", May 2, 2007, A8, accessed May 8, 2007 (restricted access; free preview); rpt. [http://goldnotes.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/london-irvine-report-may 2-2007/ "World Bank Ex-Board Member Disputes Wolfowitz"] , "goldnotes.wordpress.com", May 2, 2007, accessed May 8, 2007; cf. Greg Hitt, [http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/05/07/top-wolfowitz-adviser-resigns/ "Top Wolfowitz Adviser Resigns"] , "The Wall Street Journal", "Wall Street Journal Online", May 7, 2007, Washington Wire, accessed May 8, 2007.] Riza was "seconded to the State Department", or placed on "external assignment," assigned "a job at the state department under Liz Cheney, the daughter of the vice-president, promoting democracy in the Middle East ..."Suzanne Goldenberg, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2052072,00.html "Wolfowitz Under Fire After Partner Receives Promotion and Pay Rise"] , "The Guardian", April 7, 2007, accessed May 2, 2007.] She "was also moved up to a managerial pay grade in compensation for the disruption to her career," resulting in a raise of over $60,000, as well as guarantees of future increases; "The staff association claims that the pay rise was more than double the amount allowed under employee guidelines."William McQuillen, [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=apPbM7Uq_IPQ&refer=economy "Wolfowitz Says He Won't Quit, Calls Charges 'Bogus'"] (Update2), "Bloomberg News", April 30, 2007, accessed May 2, 2007.] A promotion and raise had been among the options suggested by a World Bank ethics committee that was set up to advise on the situation.PDF| [http://bicusa.org/proxy/Document.10080.aspx "Ethics Committee Case No 2 and President Papers"] , "World Bank", "worldbank.org", "strictly confidential" documents posted online at "bicusa.org", April 12, 2007, accessed April 14, 2007.] According to Steven R. Weisman, however, in a report published in "The New York Times", the then-current chair of the committee emphasized that he was not informed at the time of the details or extent of the present and future raises built into the agreement with Riza. [Steven R. Weisman, [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/washington/27wolfowitz.html "Wolfowitz Loses Ground in Fight for World Bank Post"] , "The New York Times", April 27, 2007, accessed May 1, 2007.] Wolfowitz refers to the controversy concerning his relationship with Riza in his recent statement posted on the website of the World Bank (April 12, 2007).Paul Wolfowitz, [http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21295972~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html "Statement by Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank Group WB/IMF Spring Meetings 2007"] , "Worldbank.org", April 12, 2007, accessed May 1, 2007. (Video and audio links.)]

Wolfowitz's leadership of the World Bank Group

Beginning early in 2007, "Fox News" published on its website a series of investigative stories on the World Bank, based in part on leaks to Fox of internal bank documents.cite news|author=Richard Behar|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,250800,00.html|title=World Bank Launches Internal Probe to Root Out Leakers|publisher=Fox News|date=2007-02-08|accessdate=2007-05-14]

On April 11, 2007, Reuters and Al Kamen, in his column in "The Washington Post", reported that Wolfowitz and the World Bank board had hired the Williams & Connolly law firm to oversee an investigation into the leaking of internal bank documents to Fox News.Reuters, [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,265200,00.html "World Bank Launches Probe Into Leak of Confidential Documents to FOXNews.com"] , "Fox News" April 11, 2007, accessed May 16, 2007.] Al Kamen, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/10/AR2007041001716_pf.html "Under Flood of Criticism, Looking to Plug a Leak"] , "The Washington Post", April 11, 2007, accessed May 16, 2007.] Those reports cite an internal memo to the bank staff later posted on the internet, dated April 9, 2007, in which the World Bank's general counsel, Ana Palacio, states that the Bank's legal staff was scrutinizing two articles by investigative reporter Richard Behar published on the website of "Fox News" on January 31 and March 27, 2007.Richard Behar, [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,248601,00.html "Wolfowitz vs. the World Bank Board: It's Trench Warfare"] , "Fox News", January 31, 2007 and [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,261290,00.html "World Bank Anticorruption Drive Blunted as China Threatens to Halt Loans"] , "Fox News", March 27, 2007, both accessed May 14, 2007.] A day after the second report published by Behar, on March 28, 2007, Kamen had disclosed that "Bank records obtained by the Government Accountability Project" documented pay raises in excess of Bank policies given to Shaha RizaAl Kamen, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/27/AR2007032701953.html "In the Loop: Where the Money Is"] , "The Washington Post", March 28, 2007, accessed May 10, 2007.] On April 12, 2007 the London "Financial Times" reported that, in a 2005 memorandum, Wolfowitz had personally directed the Bank's human resources chief to offer Riza a large pay rise and promotion, according to two anonymous sources who told the "Financial Times" that they had seen the memo.Krishna Guha and Eoin Callan, [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/42f29804-e8ae-11db-b2c3-000b5df10621.html "Wolfowitz Laid Out Terms for Partner’s Pay Package"] , "Financial Times", April 12, 2007, accessed May 14, 2007.] The memo was part of a package of 102 pages of documents publicly released by the bank on April 14, 2007.

On April 14, 2007, after reviewing the 102-page document package, the "Financial Times" concluded that it was "a potentially fatal blow" to Wolfowitz. [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/28b367ba-ea26-11db-91c7-000b5df10621.html "Title"?] , "Financial Times", April 14, 2007, accessed May 14, 2007.] In contrast, "Fox News" concluded that the new documents might offer Wolfowitz a "new lifeline" in the scandal, because the Bank's ethics committee had launched a review of the Riza compensation case in early 2006 and concluded that it did not warrant any further attention by the committee.Richard Behar, [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,266052,00.html "Documents May Give Wolfowitz New Lifeline in World Bank Scandal"] , "Fox News" April 14, 2007, accessed May 14, 2007.] Media speculations about Wolfowitz quitting his position as president of the World Bank intensified on April 19, 2007 after his failure to attend a high-profile meeting. [ [http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2061950,00.html "Wolfowitz Absent As World Bank Board Decides Fate"] , "The Guardian", April 19, 2007, accessed April 20, 2007.] The controversy about Wolfowitz's girlfriend Shaha Riza led to disruption at the World Bank when some employees wore blue ribbons "in a display of defiance against his leadership." [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/04/20/MNGDOPCBOA1.DTL&type=politics "Wolfowitz's Troubles Disrupt World Bank"] , "San Francisco Chronicle", April 20, 2007, accessed April 20, 2007.]

World Bank Group's board of executive directors and staffers complained also that Wolfowitz was imposing Bush Administration policies to eliminate family planning from World Bank programs. According to Nicole Gaouette, in her report published in the "Los Angeles Times" on April 19, 2007, Juan José Daboub—the managing director whom Wolfowitz had appointed who has also been criticized for overly-conservative policies concerning climate change and "a Roman Catholic with ties to a conservative Salvadoran political party"—repeatedly deleted references to family planning from World Bank proposals.Nicole Gaouette, [http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-worldbank19apr19,1,3027731,full.story "World Bank May Target Family Planning:] Repeated Absence of References to Birth Control in Internal Reports Alarms Women's Health Advocates", "The Los Angeles Times", April 19, 2007, accessed May 1, 2007.]

On May 14, 2007 the World Bank committee investigating the alleged ethics violations reported (in part):
*"Mr. Wolfowitz's contract requiring that he adhere to the Code of Conduct for board officials and that he avoid any conflict of interest, real or apparent, were violated";
*"The salary increase Ms. Riza received at Mr. Wolfowitz's direction was in excess of the range established by Rule 6.01";
*"The ad hoc group concludes that in actuality, Mr Wolfowitz from the outset cast himself in opposition to the established rules of the institution"; and
*"He did not accept the bank's policy on conflict of interest, so he sought to negotiate for himself a resolution different from that which would have applied to the staff he was selected to head."Reuters, [http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/15/news/newsmakers/wolfowitz.reut/?postversion=2007051507 "Wolfowitz Rejects World Bank Ethics Ruling"] : Bank Committee Determines That President Violated Ethics Standards Over His Girlfriend's Promotion; Wolfowitz Calls Findings 'unbalanced' and 'flawed'", online posting, "CNNMoney.com" ("The Internet home of "Fortune", "Money", "Business 2.0"), May 15, 2007, accessed May 16, 2007.]

Wolfowitz appeared before the World Bank Group's board of executive directors to respond on Tuesday, May 15, 2007, and, the following day, on Wednesday, May 16, in another board meeting, its executive directors would "consider the report and make a statement later in the week." Adams speculates that "With Mr Wolfowitz so far refusing to step down, the board may need to take radical action to break the stalemate. Members have discussed a range of options, including sacking Mr Wolfowitz, issuing a vote of no confidence or reprimanding him. Some board members argue that a vote of no confidence would make it impossible for him to stay in the job."Richard Adams, [http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2079876,00.html "Angry Wolfowitz in Four-letter Tirade"] , "The Guardian Unlimited", May 15, 2007, accessed May 16, 2007.] If the World Bank's board of directors "votes him out," according to Michael Hirsh, in the May 21, 2007 issue of "Newsweek", he would be "the first president dismissed in [its] 62-year history ..." Michael Hirsh, [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18628587/site/newsweek/ "With the Best of Intentions"] , "Newsweek", May 21, 2007, accessed May 12, 2007.] By mid-afternoon, Wednesday, May 16, 2007, "The New York Times", reported that "after six weeks of fighting efforts to oust him as president ... Wolfowitz began today to negotiate the terms of his possible resignation, in return for the bank dropping or softening the charge that he had engaged in misconduct ..."Steven R. Weisman, [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/washington/16cnd-wolfowitz.htm "Wolfowitz Said to Be Working On Deal for His Resignation"] , "The New York Times", May 16, 2007, accessed May 16, 2007.] After recent expressions from the Bush administration that it "fully" supported Wolfowitz as World Bank president and its urging a "fair hearing" for him, President Bush expressed "regret" at Wolfowitz's impending resignation.Jeannine Aversa (Associated Press), [http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6620492,00.html "White House: Give Wolfowitz Fair Hearing"] , "The Guardian", May 10, 2007, accessed May 9, 2007; [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4812893.html "Markets: Bush Expresses Regret Over Wolfowitz"] , "The Houston Chronicle", May 17, 2007, accessed May 17, 2007.]

On May 17, 2007, in a statement published on its website, the World Bank Group's board of Executive Directors announced that Paul Wolfowitz would resign as World Bank Group president at the end of June 2007; their statement is followed by a statement from Wolfowitz about his tenure as president and his hopes for the World Bank's future success. [http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21339650~menuPK:34463~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html "Statements of Executive Directors and President Wolfowitz"] , "World Bank Group", May 17, 2007, accessed May 17, 2007.] Steven R. Weisman, [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/18/washington/18worldbank.html "'Second Chance' at Career Goes Sour for Wolfowitz"] , "New York Times", May 18, 2007, accessed May 18, 2007.]

ee also

*American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
*Full-spectrum dominance
*Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA)
*Joint Vision 2020
*Neoconservatism
*Project for the New American Century
*Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) Board of Advisors
*Wolfowitz Doctrine
*World Bank Group

Notes

External links

;Official biographical accounts
* [http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/ORGANIZATION/EXTOFFICEPRESIDENT/0,,contentMDK:20519590~menuPK:64260190~pagePK:51174171~piPK:64258873~theSitePK:1014541,00.html "Biography: Paul Wolfowitz: President, The World Bank Group"] , at "web.worldbank.org" (World Bank Group). Accessed May 4, 2007.
* [http://www.whitehouse.gov/results/leadership/bio_466.html "Paul Wolfowitz—Department of Defense, Deputy Secretary of Defense"] . Search result in obsolete directory of "The President and His Leadership Team". Accessed May 4, 2007.
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20060502184118/http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/wolfowitz_bio.html "Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense"] —Archived biography at the United States Department of Defense. Last updated: March 16, 2005. Accessed May 2, 2007.
*Wolfowitz, Paul. [http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21295972~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html "Statement by Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank Group WB/IMF Spring Meetings 2007"] . Online posting. "World Bank Group", "Worldbank.org", April 12, 2007. Accessed May 1, 2007. (Video and audio links.)

Persondata
NAME= Wolfowitz, Paul Dundes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=10th President of the World Bank, Deputy Secretary of Defense in the administration of President George W. Bush
DATE OF BIRTH= December 22, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH=Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=