by Jitendra Joshi
WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush risked inflaming global opinion Wednesday by putting forward his deeply controversial deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, to become World Bank chief.
In a move that could undermine the new thaw in transatlantic relations, Bush said he wanted Donald Rumsfeld`s number two at the Pentagon to take over in a role that is central to global development.
Bush said he had already started telephoning foreign leaders to lobby for support for "my nominee" Wolfowitz and to explain "why I think Paul will be a strong president of the World Bank".
The US president highlighted Wolfowitz`s experience at the US State Department and the Pentagon, and as a previous ambassador to Indonesia.
"And Paul is committed to development," said Bush, describing the hawkish neoconservative as a "compassionate, decent man who will do a fine job in 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 in Europe and around the world 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 been accused of backing grandiose development projects which have little economic worth, and of fostering poverty by driving nations deeper into debt.
Bush said the 71-year-old Wolfensohn had already given his 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.
The United States is the biggest shareholder in the twin institutions, followed by the European Union as a bloc and by Japan.
Wolfensohn earlier this month denied that Wolfowitz was in the running to be his successor. But on Wednesday he was fulsome in his praise.
"He is a person of high intellect and broad experience in and out of government and he has many qualifications that would be critical to leading the bank," Wolfensohn said.
"I look forward for the decision of our board."
But Steve Clemons of the New America Foundation said that the Wolfowitz pick was a worrying pointer for Bush`s foreign-policy intentions coming after the choice of another arch-hawk, John Bolton, to be United Nations ambassador.
"The message is that neoconservatism maintains a tenacious, tight grip on US foreign policy and that the world`s most important multilateral institutions need to be disciplined to be responsive to a more narrow American parochialism in global affairs," he commented.
03/16/2005 17:05 GMT