Cry Wolf and let slip the dogs of war

FT.com: The news that Paul Wolfowitz, the US deputy defence secretary neo-con hawk, is a leading contender to head the World Bank has sent a frisson of fear down the spines of development experts across the globe.

So great is the predicted backlash that one might almost suspect he is only there to secure Europe's assent to a rival candidate.

There is certainly a danger of establishing a worrying trend. Mr Wolfowitz would not be the first Pentagon alumnus to secure the post. In 1968 Robert McNamara, Kennedy and Johnson's defence secretary, went straight from spearheading the Vietnam conflict to a lengthy stint as Bank president.

But it would be worrying if waging war were to become an essential for securing the world's top development job. Around the world, ambitious defence secretaries might start launching pre-emptive strikes on small nations every time the post was due to come up. It could be a bloodbath. Link