Wolfowitz: Blind to the Impact of Global Poverty
Wolfowitz: Blind to the Impact of Global Poverty
One of the primary objectives of the World Bank is to combat global poverty. Outgoing World Bank president James Wolfensohn understood the link between global poverty and global security. Paul Wolfowitz, however, remains blind to the impact poverty has on dangers like terrorism and civil unrest.
“If we want stability on our planet, we must fight to end poverty. Since the time of the Bretton Woods Conference, through the Pearson Commission, the Brandt Commission, and the Brundtland Commission, through to statements of our leaders at the 2000 Millennium Assembly – and today – all confirm that the eradication of poverty is central to stability and peace.” — Outgoing World Bank president James D. Wolfensohn, 10/3/04
VERSUS
“These people are not fighting because they’re poor. They’re poor because they fight all the time. ” — President Bush’s nominee for World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, Congressional Testimony, 6/6/96
“We hear a lot of talk about the root causes of terrorism. Some people seem to suggest that poverty is the root cause of terrorism. It’s a little hard to look at a billionaire named Osama bin Laden and think that poverty drove him to it.” — Wolfowitz, 11/15/2002
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Actions speak louder than words. Wolfensohn may understand the effects of poverty but the World Bank has always done everything within its power to encourage it.
March 16th, 2005 at 11:38 am(i) as Gary Kleppe notes, the WB is not an unqualified actor for “good”, to pick at random, Wolfensohn and the WB’s Involuntary Resettlement policy (OP 4.12) for indigenous peoples.
(ii) Wolfowitz has something. Ask, “What Would Stalin Do? (that’s WWSD for the non-believers) about a volunteerist ruling-class diletante trying to lead an armed nationalist anti-colonial movement. If you come up with “nine grames of lead, twice behind the ear”, you are in the ballpark. Wolfowitz is profoundly wrong in thinking that necessity isn’t driving resistance. Where you join him is in thinking that OBL is the manifestation of necessity.
There is more desperation than a Saudi plutocrat can channel or manipulate.
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March 16th, 2005 at 12:29 pmIt’s a little hard to look at a billionaire named Osama bin Laden and think that poverty drove him to it.
Yep — I’m sure Wolfie would say that it was a little hard to look at Moses as a privileged member of Egyptian royalty and say that an overseer beating up on a Hebrew slave drove him to murder. God must have gotten it all wrong, because rich and privileged people never care about anything except their own pocketbooks.
March 16th, 2005 at 1:10 pmPoverty isn’t what drives Osama to terrorism, but poverty is what drives followers to Osama. It’s a well known recruiting tool to prey on those who are in desperate situations and tell them that your way will make their life better. (It’s the same reasoning that US Military recruiters use when targeting the inner cities for their recruits)
March 16th, 2005 at 1:20 pmFolks, sometimes you get too enamored of pulling out various allegedly daming quotes without taking on the arguments. I really think ThinkProgress needs to try to be more persuasive if it is to be more effective.
There’s a lot to complain about regarding Paul Wolfowitz, but those quotes about terrorism and poverty are actually fairly standard and well-grounded in the literature about terrorism — just ask Marc Sageman, author of “Understanding Terror Networks.”
March 16th, 2005 at 1:29 pmJCali > You are right on.
March 16th, 2005 at 2:48 pmWolfowitz is just another seed in the fascist garden.
All the money in the world willnot end poverty. Only by letting them develop industry and prosperity will they end poverty. Look at Singapore and South Korea. Capitalism is the way out for the thrid world
March 16th, 2005 at 4:51 pmI am so distressed about the choice of Paul Wolfowitz for head of the World Bank. Jim Wolfensohn had the right idea about how to use “the Bank”, and truly tried to address the issues of poverty that cause “terrorism”. I am heartsick at the thought that a Pentagon insider would become the guardian of the poor and the dispossed and the displaced (by wars) of this world. This is insanity!
Dana
March 16th, 2005 at 8:23 pmMost people in theprivate sector would be fired if they screwed up to the tune of $200 to $300 billion dollars. Not so with Paul Wolfowitz. He gets promoted to the head of the bank. Wasn’t he the one that said the Iraq war won’t cost us anyting?
March 16th, 2005 at 10:55 pmIn this administration only “screw-ups” get promotions!
March 17th, 2005 at 8:16 pmInteresting how different things would be but for one screwed up ballot in Florida in Nov 2000.
March 17th, 2005 at 9:52 pmNobody’s saying bin Laden was a terrorist because of poverty. But you can’t deny al Qaeda preys on poverty. Look at how it picks weakened, impoverished countries as its bases. Fighting poverty is a key step in fighting terrorism.
March 18th, 2005 at 12:06 pmCheck out “The Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” to learn exactly how the World Bank is a key player in impoverishing the impoverished around the world. They talk about helping but helping who?
March 19th, 2005 at 3:48 amActually, the World Bank job is good for Wolfowitz because he’ll be safe there. I remember when the Iraqi insurgents fired a rocket into the hotel he was staying at and narrowly missed whacking the ‘patriot’. At a press conference he held right after he looked like someone scared sh*tless and couldn’t wait until he could flee Iraq for safe haven in the USA.
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April 5th, 2006 at 2:25 am[...] Walid Jumblatt, Lebanese opposition leader now praised as paragon of democracy by some Bush supporters, said, after rockets aimed at a Baghdad hotel, just missed Wolfowitz: “We hope that next time the rockets will be more accurate and effective in getting rid of this virus, and his like, who wreak corruption in the Arab land of Iraq and in Palestine,” Jumblatt said. Like a true chickenhawk, Mr Wolfowitz will now get a cushy job in banking about which he knows nothing, supposed to benefit poor people about whom he knows less than nothing, rather than go to the luxury hotel in Baghdad which was fired at during his stay, for a second time … let alone join the army in Iraq … [...]
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