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Sat May 19th, 2007
US has tough task to heal rift over Wolfowitz
A day after Paul Wolfowitz resigned as World Bank president under an ethics cloud, the United States faced the tough task of healing rifts with Europeans and satisfying calls that his successor be picked on merit, not just nationality.
Wolfowitz's resignation on Thursday followed pressure by European opponents who said his handling of a high-paying promotion for his companion damaged the institution's credibility.
Bank staff complained the crisis had undermined their mission of fighting poverty in developing countries.
"It is a very delicate issue but we will make clear to the United States that we need someone credible and this time they need to consult more broadly," said one senior European bank board official. "That was not the case with Wolfowitz."
The US, the bank's largest shareholder, has named the World Bank chief since the bank's inception more than 60 years ago.
Many critics have said that practice should be revamped in the wake of Wolfowitz's rocky two-year tenure at the bank.
European countries, who by tradition always choose the head of the bank's sister organisation, the International Monetary Fund, have not challenged that long-standing practice.
The White House said President George Bush would move quickly to nominate an American successor.
"The president is going to try to select the individual he thinks is the best person for the job," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has said he would help Bush identify a nominee after consulting with other countries. But he made clear it would be an American.
"I see no reason why this should change and I see every reason why it's important that the World Bank should continue to be run by an American," Paulson said.
Dutch Development Minister Bert Koenders said the stature of the candidate was more important than nationality.
"The quality of a new candidate is the most important thing. Whatever nationality, American or from another continent, the bank needs a president of the highest quality," he said.
While the White House cautioned it was too early to speculate over a successor, names being tossed around in the US media included former Federal Reserve chairperson Paul Volcker, former Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt, and even Tony Blair, Britain's outgoing prime minister.
Wolfowitz's decision to step down at the end of June did not quell anger among staff.
The bank's staff association said it was important to the institution's credibility to ensure the process of choosing the next chief was more transparent. "The next president should be selected based on merit and qualifications, after full consultation of all shareholders," it said.
The association also demanded that Wolfowitz, a former US deputy defence secretary and Iraq war architect, be put on administrative leave immediately and forbidden from making policy decisions.
In a letter to the board, Wolfowitz said he would withdraw from day-to-day decision-making. He said he may make a farewell journey to Africa before he leaves on June 30, but would first consult with the board.
"Regardless of the emotions that most of us are probably feeling right now, I believe we must move forward in a spirit of forgiveness, both for the sake of each of us as individuals and for the sake the bank group's mission to serve the world's poor," he said.
Wolfowitz said his most important task before leaving was to meet with staff, but employee comments posted on an internal website suggested little enthusiasm among the rank and file.
"Please just leave. You can take all your loyal employees with you. Who are you kidding?," one anonymous employee wrote.
Senior bank managers urged staff to focus on the bank's goal of fighting poverty.
"I know a good many of us may feel that this consensus is less than perfect, but it does start to bring to an end this period of institutional crisis that we have been living through," Joy Phumaphi, the bank's vice-president for human development network, wrote in a note to staff.
"It has been hard for all of us to endure and it will take a while for our collective wounds to heal," she said.
Discontinuing imperialism
Fri May 18th, 2007
While few countries have directly challenged the tradition of the White House selecting the World Bank chief, many have said there needs to be wider consultation on candidates.
World Bank staff, anti-poverty and development groups called for a selection process based on merit, not nationality.
"The current unjust arrangement by which the US gets to appoint the head of the World Bank and the Europeans pick the head of the IMF has to end," said Bernice Romero, advocacy director for international development group Oxfam.
Nancy Birdsall, president of the Washington-based Centre for Global Development, said the Wolfowitz case illustrated the need for change, but she questioned whether the United States would budge.
"I wish the Bush administration would announce its support for an open, competitive and merit-based process," Birdsall said.
"If not, I hope that the Europeans and other member governments take responsibility for scrutinising and, if necessary, vetoing any candidate who lacks the necessary management experience, understanding of development issues and political smarts to lead the bank effectively."
Paul Wolfowitz resigned as World Bank president, ending turmoil over his leadership, but the next battle loomed for the United States over how and if it should continue to appoint the head of the institution.
Wolfowitz's resignation on Thursday, forced by his handling of a high-paying promotion for his partner, takes effect on June 30.
The World Bank board is scheduled to meet on Friday to discuss leadership issues, including the process of selecting the new president.
The White House said it would soon name an American successor. US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he would help President George Bush in identifying a nominee after consultations with other World Bank member countries.
Neither the White House nor Paulson mentioned the possibility of changing the way the United States has selected the president of the poverty-fighting institution, even as it emerged from a bruising fight over Wolfowitz.
While the White House cautioned it was too early to speculate over his successor, names being tossed around in the US media included former deputy US secretary of state Robert Zoellick, Deputy US Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmit and even Tony Blair, Britain's outgoing prime minister.
Others included Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigerian finance minister, Trevor Manuel, South Africa's Finance Minister, and Kermal Dervis, former Turkish minister for economic affairs.
The United States, the bank's largest shareholder, has named the World Bank chief since it led the establishment of the bank and its sister organisation, the International Monetary Fund, more than 60 years ago.
By tradition, the head of the IMF is a European.
Wider consultation
Wolfowitz was always a controversial choice because of his role in the US-led invasion of Iraq while at the Pentagon.
Europeans, who were Wolfowitz's biggest foes and called for him to resign over the promotion scandal, grudgingly accepted his nomination by Bush in 2005.
Lingering misgivings over the US administration's choice often bubbled to the surface in decisions such as Wolfowitz's anti-corruption campaign.
Wolfowitz to leave his
post at World Bank
Fri May 18th, 2007
George Bush aide Paul Wolfowitz has been forced out of the World Bank.
The American said he will resign as World Bank president at the end of June, bringing a close to the protracted battle over his leadership sparked by a promotion he arranged for his girlfriend.
The bank's board said it accepted that Wolfowitz had acted "in good faith".
"He assured us that he acted ethically and in good faith in what he believed were the best interests of the institution and we accept that," it said in announcing his resignation on Thursday.
Wolfowitz said it was now "necessary to find a way to move forward".
"I am announcing today that I will resign as president of the World Bank Group."
His departure was all but forced, however, by the finding of a special bank panel that he violated conflict-of-interest rules in his handling of the 2005 pay package of his girlfriend, bank employee Shaha Riza.
The White House said George Bush, the US president, would quickly announce a new candidate to head the institution.
"We would have preferred that he stay at the bank, but the president reluctantly accepts his decision," it said.
Wolfowitz's resignation ends a tumultuous two years at the bank where he was dogged by his legacy as an architect of the Iraq war, despite focusing attention on Africa's needs and launching a controversial campaign against corruption.
Salvaging credibility
European members led by France, Germany and the Netherlands had said Wolfowitz should step down to salvage the bank's credibility, which they said had been damaged by his handling of Riza's high-paying promotion.
A board panel found his efforts on her behalf broke bank rules and represented a conflict of interest, but Wolfowitz said he acted on the advice of a board ethics committee and wanted it to acknowledge its own failures.
The board said it was clear that a number of people had erred in reviewing the pay package.
Under a contract he signed in June 2005 when he became World Bank president, Wolfowitz would receive a year's salary, or around $375,000, if his services were terminated by the board or if he resigned.
Pressure to resign intensified on Wednesday as European countries signalled they would resist a bid by the Bush administration to keep Wolfowitz in the job.
The US had tried to a cut a deal that would have separated consideration of his ethics violations from a decision over whether he had the credibility to continue, but only Japan out of the G7 countries sided with Washington.
World Bank
Prez Paul Wolfowitz's Girlfriend Issues
Posted By Wayne Madsen
WMR first reported World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz's
girlfriend issues last September. Wolfowitz is now under
pressure to resign for favoritism he has shown in landing his
girlfriend a job in violation of World Bank rules. Wolfowitz's
flame landed a job at the State Department at an annual salary
of $193.000.
Last September we reported, "Shaha Aliriza, who has
managed to antagonize every office in Washington, DC in which
she has been specially assigned by her boyfriend and boss [Wolfowitz],
is now serving as a World Bank liaison in South America,
according to World Bank sources. Aliriza is divorced from
Bulent Aliriza, a Turkish Cypriot who she met at the London
School of Economics. Wolfowitz is legally separated from his
wife, Clare Selgin. After taking over at the World Bank,
Wolfowitz met Aliriza, then the acting manager for the Bank's
External Relations and Outreach for the Middle East and North
Africa Region. After complaints by employees about Wolfowitz's
conflict of interest with an employee, Aliriza was transferred
to a joint World Bank/US Agency for International Development
(USAID) multinational investment project. After similar
complaints, Wolfowitz transferred his friend to South America
duties. World Bank sources report that although the Tunis-born
Aliriza grew up in Saudi Arabia and is a British citizen, she
has Tunisian Jewish roots. Aliriza honed her neo-conservative
credentials as a veteran of Ronald Reagan's National Endowment
for Democracy and she has been pressuring Wolfowitz to use his
position to help 'democratize' the Middle East."
Our sources have reported that Wolfowitz was dining this past
week at Phillips Seafood Restaurant in Washington, DC. There
was no word whether he was with his girlfriend. However, there
was a gaggle of neocons at Phillips when Wolfowitz was there.
Also dining at the restaurant were Oliver North, Newt
Gingrich, and, surprisingly, Phil Donohue, former TV talk show
host. Donohue reportedly picked up the tab. It is not the
first time the threesome of Gingrich, North, and Donohue have
been together. They reportedly go fishing at Gaston's fishing
resort in the Arkansas Ozarks, where some of the world's
largest brown trout are found in the White River.
MS-NBC talk show host Tucker Carlson (where Donohue once had a
TV show) has just been named by CBS to host a game show next
season. The show is called "Who Do You Trust?" The
answer to that is not Tucker's dad's friends at the neocon
contrivance which has largely replaced the Project for the New
American Century (PNAC). That would be the Foundation for the
Defense of Democracies, co-chaired by Tucker's father, former
Voice of America and Corporation for Public Broadcasting chief
Richard Carlson. FDD has Gingrich, James Woolsey, Joe
Lieberman, and Louis Freeh as its "Distinguished
Advisers." It is ironic that a day after CBS canned Don
Imus it picks up the annoying neocon "Jimmy Olson
look-alike" Tucker Carlson to host a game show. Yes,
America, the media is controlled by a tightly-knit cabal of
corporate gnomes. -- http://www.waynemadsenreport.com
esinislam.com + Agencies
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