Wolfowitz May Expand World Bank Activities in Iraq

One of the prime architects of the ill-fated U.S. endeavor in Iraq, Paul Wolfowitz, is considering expanding the World Bank's operations in the nation that was destroyed by his earlier efforts.

It does not look to be his idea though:

Senior bank officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because no final decision had been made, said key donor countries including Britain, Japan, Germany, and Denmark are pressuring Wolfowitz to establish a Baghdad office...

In recent weeks, Wolfowitz sent a fact-finding mission to Iraq, and he was examining security matters and several reconstruction-related issues, officials said.

The possibility of a new World Bank office revives attention to Wolfowitz's role as an architect of the Iraq war. Many critics have accused the Bush administration and the Pentagon in particular of failing to plan for a post-invasion Iraq, as violence rages three years after Saddam Hussein's ouster...

The development agency has not had an Iraq office since an Aug. 19, 2003, bombing at UN headquarters in Iraq killed a bank employee. A consultant, with a staff of seven Iraqis, is paid by the World Bank to look after its affairs in Iraq...

Since the attack, the World Bank has operated from an office in Amman, Jordan. But Iraqi officials have complained about the burden of traveling to Amman to consult with the World Bank. In December, Barham Salah, a Kurdish leader, wrote to Wolfowitz urging the bank's full engagement in rebuilding...

'There has been a need for the bank to be in Iraq," said James Dobbins, director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at Rand Corporation. He said, however, the violence in Iraq could limit bank activities. Other analysts note that the State Department is winding down its $20 billion Iraq reconstruction program, which focused on electricity and water projects that have not delivered desired results.

The situation in Iraq has been ripe for exploitation. The World Bank's M.O. has traditionally been to load developing countries up with such debt to Western banks for development projects that the hapless country inevitably defaults, triggering much political skullduggery.

The difference here is that Iraq, in theory at least, could pay off the loans with oil money.

That is, of course, if the questionable invoicing of Iraqi oil can be adjusted so that the Iraqis receive full payment for their exports of black gold.