Wolfowitz: Cop in a three-piece suit
Think of the Bush nomination of Paul Wolfowitz as an astute police action, with the cop wearing a three-piece suit.
International institutions became forums for political warfare during the Cold War, and that sapped them. But ?institution-driven? leadership has further weakened international organizations. Corruption has savaged the UN.
Wolfowitz knows these institutions must change. Yes there is a war aim: economic development is absolutely key to achieving a sustaining victory in The Millennium War (as most of you know, I dislike the term War on Terror).
Wolfowitz has many faults (don’t we all). The rap on him in the military is a nagging lack of direct personal experience with military operations?the chess board approach that damned Robert MacNamara. The World Bank and the diplomatic arena are another matter; that’s his background in spades. And Wolfowitz has the spine and intellect to initiate major institutional reforms. As the situation requires, he can morph from cop to professor to banker and back to cop. Leaders in developing countries know they won?t be able to guilt trip this guy or get away with the ?kleptocratic treadmill? game (lend us money, we waste it, Western taxpayers bail us out).
Here’s a datedFinancial Times article but it provides some useful background.
See Roger L. Simon?s post on the nomination. His take is similar to mine.
UPDATE: Belmont Club has similar thoughts and an expansive analysis.
Wolfowitz has a vision. The World Bank has a vision. Neocons and international bureaucrats traditionally hate each other. But actually they have a lot in common. Now they get to find out what. Potential for some brilliant synergy here, provided that the WB crowd realizes they were wrong about Iraq. More of my take here.
Comment by Nathan Smith — 3/17/2005 @ 2:07 pm