Berkowitz--Wolfowitz to head the State Dept's International Security Advisory Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 12:29:03 -0600 (CST) January 24, 2008, WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Paul Wolfowitz, an architect of the Iraq war who was forced to resign from the World Bank because of an ethics scandal, will chair a U.S. advisory panel on arms control, the State Department said on Thursday. Published on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 by _Inter Press Service_ (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38487) Wolfowitz - Return to Sender? by Bill Berkowitz OAKLAND, Calif. - Recently forced out as president of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, one of the primary architects of U.S. President George W. Bushbs Iraq war, is heading back to familiar surroundings. And the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute (AEI), one of the United Statesb premier conservative think tanks, is more than pleased to welcome him back. Earlier this month, AEI president Christopher DeMuth announced that Wolfowitz would be coming on board as a visiting scholar to work on such issues as international economic development, Africa, and public-private partnerships. Wolfowitz told the Financial Times that he would be bexplor[ing] some ways to help advance development in Africa, both through the private sector and through foundation work.b (http://www.commondreams.org/archive/wp-content/photos/0711_08.jpg) Prior to joining the Pentagon in 2001, Wolfowitz served as a member of AEIbs Council of Academic Advisors. After leaving his post as deputy secretary of defence with the Bush Administration, the World Bank position appeared to be the perfect fit for Wolfowitz; a place to rehabilitate a reputation badly damaged by his serial misjudgments over developments in Iraq. However, nearly midway through his term at the World Bank, things started to unravel as evidence mounted about Wolfowitzbs ethical lapses. His efforts to get his girlfriend (a bank employee) promoted, charges that he was a poor manager, and a growing concern amongst member countries that he was using the bank to advance U.S. interests, fueled the fire. As Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair magazine pointed out in his June b Editorbs Letterb (written prior to Wolfowitzbs World Bank exit strategy), things had gotten so bad for Wolfowitz that he had become ba source of ridicule within the international organisation that employees have published a satirical monograph called bLa Banca Swirllab (bBank Swirledb). According to RightWeb, a project of the International Relations Centre, Wolfowitz received mixed reviews for his work at the World Bank. On the plus side, bHe badgered the United States and other wealthy countries to cut subsidies to aid development in poorer countries, fervently pursued anti-corruption policies, and announced moves aimed at strengthening the bankbs internal watchdog, the Department of Institutional Integrity.b Critics, however, were quick to point to the fact that Wolfowitz, a controversial choice to begin with because of his involvement with the Iraq War, exacerbated the controversy by choosing to bring on board bclose associates and supportersb of the Bush administrationbs bwar on terrorb. The case for dumping Wolfowitz was likely sealed earlier this year when it was revealed that he was deeply involved in getting a pay raise and a new job at the State Department for his girlfriend, Shaha Riza, a career bank staffer. Wolfowitz is familiar with the world of conservative think tanks and public policy institutes. In addition to his previous AEI work, he was a paid speaker for the Heritage Foundation and the Hudson Institute. He was also an original signatory with William Kristolbs Project for the New American Century. Despite his dismal performance within the administration and his questionable activities at the World Bank, Wolfowitz has been welcomed back into the fold. And, unlike other Bush administration employees b such as FEMAbs Michael Brown, who was forced to resign after his incompetent handling of Hurricane Katrina; or Vice President Dick Cheneybs top aide Lewis bScooterb Libby, who will be forever linked with the outing of a CIA operative, a subsequent conviction for perjury and obstructing justice, and a presidential commutation; or former Interior Deputy Secretary J. Steven Griles, who was convicted, and recently sentenced to jail time, for withholding information from the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in 2005 about his meeting with Republican Party uber-lobbyist, the now imprisoned Jack Abramoff b Wolfowitz is once again in a position to influence public policy. During the early part of its more than 30-year existence, the conservative AEI was seen as ba mainstream, economic policy and political science think tank b. A number of respected centrist analysts still at the institute, like William Schneider and Norman Ornstein, still bembody that old style,b Benjamin Wallace-Wells wrote in a December 2003 piece in The Washington Monthly. In the early 1980s, AEI was no match for the Heritage Foundation, a younger Washington-based think tank steeped in hard-core conservative politics. The Heritage Foundation combined a capacity to raise significant amounts of money from other conservative foundations with a voracious appetite for publicity. It was able to raise its institutional profile through its unceasing communications with both right-wing and mainstream media sources. After DeMuth took over the AEIbs reins in 1986, the organisation bput in place an astonishingly successful formula for attracting money and garnering influence, which has matched the increasingly aggressive style of Washingtonbs conservative community,b Wallace-Wells pointed out. DeMuth hired the godfather of neoconservatism, Irving Kristol, and the late Jeanne Kirkpatrick, who was Ronald Reaganbs foreign policy adviser in his 1980 campaign and who had become the first woman to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. From her position as an AEI fellow, Kirkpatrick promoted the policies pushed by the Project for the New American Century, described by RightWeb as ba letterhead groupb based in the same office building as AEI and headed by several neoconservative notables including Irving Kristolbs son William. Both before and after the 9/11 attacks, PNAC played an aggressive role encouraging the Bush administration to invade Iraq. Several other Iraq war architects have also been connected to AEI, including Richard Perle, Cheney, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, and former undersecretary of defence for policy, Douglas Feith. In February 2003, President Bush delivered a major policy speech to AEI, mapping out his war plan, bthanking them [AEI] for their serviceb and support for the invasion. It is not, however, a question of that was then and this is now. AEIbs influence within the administration persists to this day. According to Think Progress, a project of the Centre for American Progress Action Fund, bBushbs escalation plan is largely based on a November 2006 paper by AEI analyst Frederick Kagan, who argued that the U.S. should bre-enter [Iraq] in large numbersb. In his interview with the Financial Times, Wolfowitz indicated that he did not think he was through with public service. bTwenty years ago I was American ambassador to Indonesia and I have to freely acknowledge, because it is pretty much an open secret, that I fell in love with that country,b he said. He added that he bwouldnbt mind working on some countries like Indonesia and Turkey that Ibve had a long association with.b Given his miscalculations on Iraq and his sullied performance at the World Bank, another Bush appointment would be a political resurrection for the ages. *Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative movement. His column bConservative Watchb documents the strategies, players, institutions, victories and defeats of the U.S. Right. **************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489