Wolfowitz Torpedoed 2nd Chance

Paul Wolfowitz clung to his job at the World Bank with characteristic tenacity, but friends and colleagues tell the New York Times that his failure there may have been inevitable. He approached the bank position with the same single-mindedness he displayed at the Pentagon, where he was blind to dissenting views and dismissive of naysayers.

After the Iraq war foundered, Wolfowitz saw the bank position as a second chance to have an impact on foreign affairs. But his style was even more unproductive at the World Bank, a liberal bastion where cronyism is the rule. The scandal surrounding the promotion of his girlfriend, colleagues say, was the catalyst but not the cause of his forced resignation. (More Paul Wolfowitz stories.)