Wolf in the World Bank's Clothing

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Leftwing supporters of the invasion of Iraq have often made the claim that Paul Wolfowitz represented the true spirit of Neo-Conservatism - a man with a genuine democratic, humanitarian instinct. They contrast this with the greed of say Dick Cheney.

Personally, I have always been rather sceptical of this - Wolfowitz seemed to do little to champion the cause of human rights when he was ambassador to Indonesia. Still I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when he started at the World Bank (there were lots of people I would have preferred but I thought I'd reserve my judgment of him once his performance became clear).

So I read with some interest this rather generous review of his tenure in the New Yorker, once again willing to at least consider the positive picture painted.

And then I read this.

Somehow it just seems so symptomatic of what went wrong in Iraq. Putative champions of democracy and anti-corruption being undemocratic and corrupt themselves.

Wonderful.