PrintMay 1, 2007
The enemies of Wolfowitz
The Wall Street Journal's Bret Stephens offers us a look at the World Bank's critics of Wolfowitz, suggesting that should he be removed, it's time for a closer look into the Bank's operations. From his round up, I'd say it was imperative we do.
Here is a sample of Stephens' findings on Wolfowitz' opponents:
* Dennis de Tray, who oversaw $25 billion dollars in loans to the corrupt Suharto regime in Indonesia and when called to account conceded widespread corruption which he suggested be overlooked and who
"has publicly objected to the 'Puritan overtone to the current debate on corruption' and argued that Suharto's corruption 'created value for Indonesia . . . just as Sam Walton created value for the U.S.'"
*Shengman Zhang, a former No. 2 at the bank who wife Lingzhi Xu, a World Bank employee during his tenure enjoyed a meteoric and unusual rise through the ranks;
* Zhang and Zu's case is clearly one of favoritism and of nepotism which Mr. Stephens says is hardly unusual. "A 2005 report, prepared by the Bank's Human Resource department, noted "there were 581 couples with 193 'potential for supervision' [conflicts-of-interest] between spouses." Yet about these cases next to no corrective action has been taken, according to bank insiders."
It is stupid for people in glass houses to throw stones.
