WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush said Wednesday he wanted the deeply controversial number two at the Pentagon, Paul Wolfowitz, to become World Bank chief.
In a move that could undermine the new thaw in transatlantic relations, Bush said he wanted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld`s deputy to take over in a role that is central to global development.
Bush said he had already started telephoning world leaders to lobby for support for his nomination.
"I appreciate world leaders taking my phone calls as I explain to them why I think Paul will be a strong president of the World Bank," he told a news conference.
The US president highlighted Wolfowitz`s experience at the US State Department and the Pentagon, and as a previous ambassador to Indonesia.
"Paul is committed to development," said Bush, describing his nominee as a "compassionate, decent man who will do a fine job at the World Bank".
Current World Bank president James Wolfensohn is to stand down this summer. Traditionally, the United States nominates the World Bank president and Europe the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Wolfowitz, 61, incurred the wrath of many European countries as a prime mover behind the war in Iraq.
He is also held in deep suspicion as a central figure in the "neoconservative" movement, which wants the United States to impose its vision of liberal democracy and free-market economics on the world.
As president of the World Bank, Wolfowitz would lead 10,000 staff in Washington and around the world, overseeing a nine billion-dollar annual aid budget which for many poor countries is a development lifeline.
But the institution has also stood accused of backing grandiose development projects which have little economic worth, and fostering poverty by driving nations deeper into debt.
Bush said Wolfensohn had already given his verbal backing to Wolfowitz`s nomination.
"Jim Wolfensohn has done a fine job in leading the World Bank," the president said.
"He`s represented the World Bank with a lot of class and a lot of dignity, and I think his comments are very important comments, for people to get to know Paul better before the vote is taken."
The US government has said it wants Wolfensohn`s replacement to be chosen before he steps down in June after a decade in the job.
But the choice of Wolfowitz could test the transatlantic consensus on the top appointments at the World Bank and IMF as never before, after Bush last month visited Brussels to consolidate a post-Iraq thaw in US-Europe relations.
03/16/2005 16:01 GMT