Who Controls the World Bank?
First off, the scandal raises questions about the World Bank’s management. Wolfowitz, like every World Bank president before him, was more or less appointed by the U.S. President. Europeans, who provide roughly 40 percent of World Bank’s $23 billion in annual funds for lending, have long opposed this arrangement. They were particularly incensed with the selection of Wolfowitz, an architect of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, to head the institution in 2005. Indeed, it is European officials at the World Bank who have been among the most vocal critics of Wolfowitz. They say the former U.S. undersecretary of defense alienated longtime employees at the World Bank from day one, relying instead on two of his previous associates from the Pentagon whom he brought into top ranking positions at the bank. A wiser man might see that ignoring World Bank experts, board members and staff to push through your own agenda, relying on henchmen you had brought over from the Pentagon, might not be the best w