Wolfowitz: the war criminal

Paul Wolfowitz is under fire as president of the World Bank because he gave his girlfriend a hefty pay rise. At the worst, that is an infraction of the rules of the bank and therefore ground for dismissal. “His enemies were waiting for him to make a mistake,” one former bank official said, “and now he's given them their opportunity.” (The Independent: Wolfowitz's fate to be decided by ministers) (Le Monde: Le départ de Wolfowitz)

Weasel-mouthed finance and development ministers of European countries only managed to utter a mild rebuke, instead of firmly demanding his immediate resignation. Wolfowitz tried to defend himself saying: “I believe in the mission of this organization and I believe that I can carry it out.” Not only is this hypocritical as Eric Gutierrez, international policy coordinator for ActionAid said: "It is absolutely hypocritical for the World Bank to stand against corruption in poor countries when its president is embroiled in a corruption scandal." (The New York Times: Wolfowitz Won't Resign as Governments Show Unease) (The Washington Post: Wolfowitz Clashed Repeatedly With World Bank Staff) (The New York Times: Public Rebuke for Wolfowitz, but He Digs In)

The bottom line is: Wolfowitz is a despicable war criminal, chiefly responsible for the destruction of a whole country and the murder of 650,000 Iraqis. He should be arrested, dragged before the International Criminal Court, convicted of the crimes of aggression, genocide, crimes against peace and humanity, of which there is not the slightest doubt. The one deplorable thing is that the International Criminal Court does not allow for the imposition of the death penalty. He deserves it. His crimes are much much worse than those of Saddam Hussein and his ministers, some of whom have been hanged.

Meanwhile the world is debating whether to sack Wolfowitz for giving his girlfriend a pay rise.

And of course, the opinion page of the Wall Street Journal is riding to the rescue: The Wolfowitz files. The poor guy didn't do anything wrong. "Mr. Wolfowitz has apologized for any mistakes he's made, though we're not sure why. He's the one who deserves an apology." Move over Mr Goebbels, you're no longer the number One of fascist propaganda.