Wolfowitz in Indonesia Asked to offer evidence that Wolfowitz has an interest or aptitude for development, the Bush Administration's answer has been to point to his tenure as U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia in the late 1980s. The Washington Post has now researched that era, and comes up with a number of contradictory observations. He was either absent on the human rights issue, or working on it subtly and behind-the-scenes. He was either overly friendly with Suharto or preventing him from profiting from food relief contracts. And so on.

The article also features a quote from Emil Salim, who was in Suharto's cabinet in the '80s, but later came to the notice of World Bank watchers when he was chosen as the "eminent person" to chair the Extractive Industries Review. Salim has continued struggling with Wolfensohn to get the EIR's findings accepted. Apparently he and Wolfowitz were friends, but he is now horrified by the Iraq war.

The real gem of the article, however, has to be this episode from Wolfowitz's time in Jakarta: "He won third prize in a cooking contest sponsored by the country's leading women's magazine, Femina, appearing in its glossy pages in an apron and explaining his secret for Madame Mao's chicken."

Soren Ambrose ~ March 28, 2005

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