EDITORIAL
Wolfowitz needs makeover for bank job

Can a Wolfowitz turn dovish?

Let's hope so, because placing the ideological architect of the Iraq war in charge of the World Bank is, well, like making an arch-unilateralist our ambassador to the United Nations.

In yet another slap in the face of the international community, President Bush has tapped Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to run the World Bank.

At first glance, it's a blatant mismatch: Wolfowitz scoffed at retired Army chief of staff Gen. Eric Shinseki's prediction that it would take hundreds of thousand of U.S. troops to restore stability to post-war Iraq.

He simply couldn't fathom how it would take more soldiers to clean up the mess than it took to conduct the war itself.

That assumption does not bode well for reconstruction or nation building, which is a long-term process and central to the World Bank's mission.

Wolfowitz' experience with developmental work is limited to a stint as Ronald Reagan's ambassador to Indonesia. Certainly, as No. 2 at the Pentagon, he helped manage a large organization. But an economist he is not.

So what does he bring to the institution that was created to help rebuild Europe after World War II, and that is now focused on helping developing nations recover from natural disasters and wars, and reducing poverty?

Perhaps Wolfowitz is seen as the right man to shake up the world of international economic development and demand accountability from governments that receive aid.

Not that cracking down on corruption isn't a worthy goal; we certainly don't want to pad the bank accounts of the wealthy elite in struggling nations while the poor get poorer.

But the new head of the World Bank must be so much more than a corruption buster. He or she must be absolutely committed to improving the lives of the world's poorest and most vulnerable citizens. And that means facilitating worthy projects rather than burying them in red tape.

To lay the groundwork for democracy, one must reduce poverty, empower women, improve health and education and foster a middle class.

If Wolfowitz takes the job, he must put his hawkish years behind him and keep his eyes on a more dovish prize.