[list_indonesia] [ppiindia] Paul Wolfowitz: A sheep in wolf's clothing
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- Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 02:58:44 +0100
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http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/story.jsp?story=3D621547
Paul Wolfowitz: A sheep in wolf's clothing?
By Rupert Cornwell
19 March 2005=20
The jokes and the dark rumours have already begun. Maybe, World Bankers gri=
mly joked, their next boss will stage a preventive (or should that be pre-e=
mptive?) military strike on its sister organisation, the International Mone=
tary Fund. Others hear tales that the bank's entire communications departme=
nt is to be axed, supposedly for talking badly about him. A little prematur=
e, one might note, since the new man must first be approved by the bank's s=
hareholders - by no means a foregone conclusion - and does not take over un=
til June.
But the black humour and the fearful talk are a measure of the shock waves =
created last week when Paul Wolfowitz was chosen by George Bush as the next=
president of the World Bank. The most powerful deputy secretary of defence=
in modern times - certified neo-conservative ogre and identified with one =
of the most unpopular wars in modern times - was to become the head of the =
world's most important development institution.
The conclusion for Bush-haters has been inescapable. Not content with selec=
ting the equally controversial John Bolton to be America's ambassador to th=
e United Nations, this re-elected and supremely confident American Presiden=
t is again showing two fingers to the rest of us. The World Bank, set up al=
ong with the UN in 1945 to guide post-war reconstruction but whose presiden=
t is by convention a US appointee, is destined to become a wholly owned ope=
rating subsidiary of the American Enterprise Institute, the right-wing Wash=
ington think tank and spiritual nesting place of foreign policy hawks.
Few hold a more terrifying place in the doves' demonology than Wolfowitz, t=
he man Mr Bush is prone to affectionately refer to as "Wolfie". He was a pr=
ime intellectual architect of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and widely perceiv=
ed as the nemesis of Colin Powell - the very archetype of the Pentagon "cra=
zies" excoriated by the former Secretary of State. For cinema-goers around =
the globe, he is the unedifying figure captured in Michael Moore's Fahrenhe=
it 9/11, licking his comb as he smooths down his hair for an interview.
"Wolfie" is the Iraq obsessive par excellence, who argued within two days o=
f the destruction of the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 for the de=
struction of Saddam Hussein, declaring bluntly that American policy was "en=
ding states that sponsor terrorism". In a now notorious Vanity Fair intervi=
ew, he even seemed to admit that the entire public rationale for war was a =
deliberate lie: "The truth is," he said, "that for reasons that have a lot =
to do with the US government bureaucracy itself, we settled on the one issu=
e that everyone would agree on, which was weapons of mass destruction as th=
e core reason."
For all these reasons and more, astonishment at his appointment was well-ni=
gh universal (even at the Pentagon itself, which had issued a statement whe=
n Wolfowitz's name was first mentioned as a candidate, insisting that he ha=
d no plans to leave). Unfortunately, he did. Like Robert McNamara, that oth=
er hate figure of three decades ago who moved from the Pentagon to the bank=
, he is embarking on the transformation from man of war to man of peace.
But for all the unease in foreign governments, and the howls of outrage fro=
m aid groups, liberals and registered America-bashers, something doesn't qu=
ite add up. First off, he simply doesn't look the part of implacable super-=
hawk and fire-breathing ideologue. Meet Wolfowitz, and you find yourself ta=
lking to a mild-mannered man, soft spoken and reflective. Unlike many in th=
e Bush administration, he actually listens to opposing points of view. In a=
rgument, he seeks to prevail by logic rather than brute force of words.
Unlike many conservatives (neo- and otherwise), he is an optimist, convince=
d that tyranny, poverty and oppression are not necessarily the lot of huge =
swathes of humanity. The word is that his moment of epiphany about the Worl=
d Bank job came in January, when Wolfowitz visited the tsunami-hit regions =
of South-east Asia and was numbed by the devastation he saw. The explanatio=
n may involve a degree of spin doctoring. But contrary to the conviction of=
his critics, he is not the world's only living heart donor. Indeed, Wolfow=
itz describes himself as a civil libertarian, and a "bleeding heart" on soc=
ial issues.
His background if anything is liberal east coast. His father was a mathemat=
ics professor at Cornell University at Ithaca, New York - a Polish Jew who =
emigrated from Russian-occupied Warsaw in 1920 and would later often tell h=
is children how lucky they were to have escaped the Europe of the dictators=
for the safety of America. Several members of his family died in the Holoc=
aust - which has fuelled accusations that he sees the world through the pri=
sm of Israel (where a sister, among other relatives, still lives). As usual=
, though, with Wolfowitz, nothing is as simple as it seems. He was among th=
e first senior figures in the Bush administration to back the creation of a=
Palestinian state. In 2002, he was even heckled at a pro-Israel rally when=
he spoke of the sufferings of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation.
The young Wolfowitz was predictably precocious. At the age of 12, he was de=
bating America's foreign trade policy with China at school. As a 13-year-ol=
d boy scout, he would spend the nights at summer camp reading Andersonville=
, an 800-page epic about the infamous Confederate prisoner-of-war camp. At =
Cornell, he studied mathematics and chemistry, and dreamt of Nobel Prizes. =
But he concluded that the world could more easily be changed by politics th=
an by science. In 1972, he took a doctorate in political science at the Uni=
versity of Chicago, home of Leo Strauss, the academic godfather of the neo-=
conservative movement.
Wolfowitz's early career in government focused on arms control and nuclear =
non-proliferation, and his views were already hardline enough to win him a =
place in "Team B", set up in the mid-1970s by Ford administration officials=
suspicious of the then policy of d=E9tente with the Soviet Union. More tha=
n two decades later, members of Team B - Wolfowitz, his Pentagon boss Donal=
d Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney's powerful chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby, an=
d Richard Perle - would re-emerge at the heart of US security policy-making=
.
In the Democratic administration of Jimmy Carter, as a deputy assistant sec=
retary at the Pentagon, he helped to set up what would later become US Cent=
ral Command, in charge of three wars against Iraq and Afghanistan. But his =
career truly blossomed under Ronald Reagan, with a series of influential jo=
bs at the State Department, culminating in a three-year stint as US ambassa=
dor to Indonesia, from 1986 to 1989.
The tour in Jakarta, even Wolfowitz's foes acknowledge, was an unqualified =
success. Indonesia was a passion of his wife Clare (the couple are now estr=
anged), who chose the country as subject for her studies in anthropology. W=
olfowitz himself was a Jew representing America in the world's most populou=
s Muslim state, who did not flinch from lecturing the then dictator Suharto=
on the merits of democracy. No less revealing, he "went native" in a fashi=
on most unusual for American ambassadors, learning the local language and i=
mmersing himself in Indonesia's culture. He travelled the country, and even=
entered a cooking contest sponsored by an Indonesian women's magazine, win=
ning third place.
Then it was back to the Pentagon, as a top policy planner in the administra=
tion of the first President Bush, helping to run the first Iraq war to driv=
e Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. And even after victory, Wolfowitz never lost =
his obsession with Iraq. In 1992, he drew up a strategy blueprint that envi=
saged Iraq as a renewed foe, in a war possibly involving chemical and biolo=
gical weapons. The Wolfowitz doctrine, later to become the Bush doctrine, w=
as born, sanctioning "pre-emptive" war and built on the premise that no pow=
er should be permitted to challenge America's benign and wholly beneficial =
dominance of world affairs. Under Bush the younger, none has done more than=
Wolfowitz to turn that theory into deed. Stirring stuff in short - but har=
dly, on the face of it, proper preparation for the World Bank.
In fact, from a strictly objective viewpoint, Wolfowitz was easily the best=
qualified of the mooted short-list of candidates. His intellectual capacit=
y is not in doubt, nor - another important consideration - is his standing =
with the bank's host government and largest single shareholder. Ah yes, cri=
tics retort, but he has no "development experience". But then again, neithe=
r did McNamara, whose 13 years at the bank between 1968 and 1981 are now re=
membered as something of a golden age. And if he is not a trained developme=
nt specialist, Wolfowitz at least has first-hand experience of the Third Wo=
rld.
The serious objections to the appointment are twofold. Some fear he will tr=
y to turn the bank into a vehicle for the wider agenda of George Bush, favo=
uring countries which do Washington's bidding and using its lending policie=
s to advance the presidential ambition of spreading democracy across the gl=
obe. An acid test will be the future of bank programmes in countries such a=
s Iran, whose unconcealed nuclear ambitions and support for militant Islami=
c groups so infuriate the US.
But such manipulation may be easier said than done. The bank's lending crit=
eria are economic, not political. Nor is there firm proof, as Wolfowitz con=
tends, that economic advancement and democracy are automatically linked. (T=
hink China.) The real danger is less that he will make the World Bank a rub=
ber stamp of Bush policies - a near impossibility for an institution with 1=
84 member countries and a board of directors watching his every move - but =
that he will bring America's image problem to the World Bank, generating an=
instant cloud of suspicion over its operations.
The other objection lies in his record at the Pentagon itself. On close scr=
utiny, he seems less ideologue than idealist, with all the latter's naivety=
and gullibility - why otherwise was he duped by a chancer like Ahmed Chala=
bi? If the post-war rebuilding of Iraq, for which Wolfowitz was responsible=
, is treated as a development project, it has been an abject failure, not l=
east because of his refusal to face facts. That, some wise pessimists say, =
may be a more reliable clue to Wolfowitz's future stewardship than the inve=
ctive of his foes.
A LIFE IN BRIEF
Born 22 December 1943 in New York City to Jacob and Lillian Wolfowitz.
Family Married in 1968 to Clare Selgin; divorced in 2002. The couple have t=
hree children.
Education BA, Yale University, 1963, in mathematics; PhD, University of Chi=
cago, 1972, in political science.
Career Lecturer, Yale University (1973-77); various senior posts at the Sta=
te Department (1977-86); ambassador to Indonesia, 1986-89; undersecretary o=
f defence (1989-93); dean, School of International Studies (1994-2001), Joh=
ns Hopkins University; Deputy Secretary of Defence (2001-present).
He says... "25 million of some of the most talented people in the Muslim an=
d Arab world were liberated from one of the worst tyrannies of the last 100=
years." - on the Iraq war
They say... "What a shame that Paul didn't continue in math." - Jacob Wolfo=
witz, Paul's father=20
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