George Bush has nominated Paul Wolfowitz, one of the main architects of the Iraq war, to run the World Bank. Am I the only one who thinks that this man should be locked away and not promoted for his deeds?

In a position as the leader of the World Bank which is as much about developing countries as it possibly can be, Wolfowitz does not exactly have his least dealings in Iraq on his side... but hey - who cares!? I wonder how Wolfowitz is going to handle sensible topics like China and other non-arch-liberal countries. Will he be able to see through colours and make globalisation perform to its best?

If Bush wants to run his neoconservative bullshit he should at least confine it to within US' borders.

Re: Wolfowitz

I was wondering how long it was going to take someone to bring this up.

The spin is that obviously Bush cares about the WB otherwise he wouldnt have appointed someone in his inner circle for the post. BS its just another way to forward his crappy foreign policies.

Remind me, how many more years of this madness?

Re: Wolfowitz

[quote=ejepsen] Am I the only one who thinks that this man should be locked away and not promoted for his deeds? [/quote]

Ahh, but to do that would be to acknowledge any error on the part of the Bush administration. In today's world, the more incompetent you are, the faster you get to rise up the Bush chain.

It is truly amazing to me how PR driven Bush's administration is. All administrations try to put the best spin on everything, but I have to hand it to Bush and his crew, they have mastered it. No matter how fucked up things seem to be, they behave as if everything is fine -- and conversely, when things go well, even as a result of actions they have opposed, they claim credit for a job well done.

...and half of the public nods and goes along with it. Staggering.

Re: Wolfowitz

[quote]...and half of the public nods and goes along with it. Staggering.[/quote]

I couldn't agree more. Is everyone just so stupid are they just numb and indifferent?

I also agree with how impressive "the machine" is and how incompetent the dems are right now cause even when it seems there's an obvious screw up (almost daily) in the White House the dems can't seem to expose it or they latch on to wrong issues.

I hope they have someone better in mind the Hillary in 2008.

Re: Wolfowitz

just my .02, but in the weird world of Washington (esp. in this presidential administration), this is NOT a promotion for Wolfowitz.

i, too, think he is frightening, but he'll be much less of a threat to the world at the world bank than in the US defense establishment IMO. at worst, he'll just fvck up development and debt relief policies -- marginally better than goading an either just malleable or outright malevolent warmonger of a US president into unprovoked foreign conquests.

still, he's an anus and the world would be better off without him in public life. :?

Re: Wolfowitz

Bush makes these choices alphabetically....

Wolfston

Wolfowitz

Re: Wolfowitz

Good to hear that we're all on the same wavelength (more or less)

It's actually quite amazing that whichever American I question about Bush I always get an answer similiar to that you guys are giving me. Yet the fool is still in power... it seems to me that there are a lot of people out there who just wont admit that they'd actually voted for him. (And yeah yeah - I know that the white trash were behind all the votes but still - he still got the majority so there must be somebody around here too)

Re: Wolfowitz

From what I have read / heard, this seems to be very plausible scenario:

        Because Wolfowitz was such  hawk about the Iraq war and, 
         subsequently, intent to privatize all previously State run 
         enterprises (i.e. oil), Wolfowitz began to butt heads with 
        "Big Oil" executives who had different ideas for post-war 
         Iraq.  The Bush administration decided to mitigate this
         conflict by moving Wolfowitz to the WB.  This move is, at
          the same time, a demotion and a display of contempt.  
         Wolfowitz concern for the fate of developing countries is 
          questionable at best.  His appointment to the WB, along 
         with Bush's recent appointments to the U.N. and the promotion of 
         John Negroponte, who oversaw death squads in Latin 
         America, and Elliot Abrams, who was involved in the Iran 
         Contra affairs, displays a much broader disdain for 
          International institutions.  In this context, the Wolfowitz 
          appointment makes a whole lot of sense.

Regarding a comment made in an earlier post, I don't necessarily believe the WB to be an innocuous organization. Although it has been boon to the economic stability of the U.S., with very little observable benefit, the WB has perpetuated poverty in the developing world.
Wolfowitz will stll have considerable power as head of this organization...

Re: Wolfowitz

Hey, maybe the future holds for us Cheney or Rumsfeld as the heads of UNICEF and UNESCO... :WinkNSmi:

Re: Wolfowitz

Fuck...that leaves just me to save the African continent :D

Joking, but he's the wrong man for that job. If Wolfowitz becomes president, developing countries dependent on WB and IMF funding are screwed in the ass big time. Wolfy is the kind of man that falls back to mistakes made in the past bcos he thinks it was the right way and he can do it right where others failed. I'm afraid he would undo all the progression there has been made in the policies in the past 50 years or so, given his stubborness and conservatism.

Fuck.