Paul Wolfowitz, American banker and politician, 25th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
Paul Dundes Wolfowitz (born December 22, 1943) is an American political scientist and diplomat who served as the 10th President of the World Bank, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, and former dean of Johns Hopkins SAIS. He is currently a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.He was an early advocate of the Iraq War and has widely been described as an architect of the war.
He testified before the House Appropriations Committee in March 2003: "There is a lot of money to pay for this that doesn't have to be US taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people. We are talking about a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon." In the aftermath of the insurgency and civil war that followed the invasion, Wolfowitz denied influencing policy on Iraq and disclaimed responsibility. He is a leading neoconservative.In 2005, he left the Pentagon to serve as president of the World Bank only to resign after two years over a scandal involving allegations he used his position to help World Bank staffer Shaha Riza to whom he was romantically linked. A Reuters report described it as "a protracted battle over his stewardship, prompted by his involvement in a high-paying promotion for his companion". Wolfowitz is the only World Bank president to have resigned over a scandal.