Pentagon hard-liner to head World Bank

President George Bush is to recommend that Deputy Defence Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to take over as head of the World Bank, a senior administration official said today.

Wolfowitz, a hard-liner has been Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s top deputy and a lightning rod for criticism over the US invasion of Iraq.

The administration has begun notifying other countries that Wolfowitz was the US candidate to replace World Bank President James Wolfensohn, said the official.

Wolfensohn is stepping down as head of the 184 nation development bank on June 1 at the end of his second five year term.

The US is the World Bank’s largest member nation. The bank traditionally has had an American president. Its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, traditionally has been headed by a European.