Bush's Wolfowitz nod draws fire
 |  As deputy defense secretary, Wolfowitz took a hard-line foreign policy stance. |
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 U.S. President George W. Bush says Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is his choice to be president of the World Bank.
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WASHINGTON -- In a controversial move, U.S. President George W. Bush has said he believes Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz will be a strong president of the World Bank.
As a leading advocate of going to war with Iraq and considered one of the administration's most hawkish figures, Wolfowitz has been a target of critics at home and abroad.
In outlining his nomination, Bush said 61-year-old Wolfowitz is "a compassionate, decent man who will do a fine job at the World Bank."
The nomination is subject to approval by the board of the 184-nation development bank, whose mission is to fight poverty and boost the living standards of people living in poor nations.
"I've said he was a man of good experience. He helped manage a large organization -- the World Bank is a large organization, the Pentagon's a large organization. He's been involved in the management of that organization," Bush told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday.
"He's a skilled diplomat," Bush added. "Worked at the State Department in high positions, ambassador to Indonesia, where he did a very good job representing our country."
In an interview with The Associated Press, Wolfowitz said he really believed in the mission of the bank, "which is reducing poverty."
"It is a noble mission and a matter of enlightened self-interest."
But Bush's nomination has riled American politicians and international aid groups, who say he lacks both the credentials and management style need for the top spot.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, for one, said the selection was "hard to understand."
"As one who served as the ranking Democrat on (the) foreign operations (committee) for many years, and worked closely with the World Bank, I don't see a match in commitment to the vision of the World Bank," Pelosi said.
She said the only thing she could think of was that a ranking member on an appropriations subcommittee has been calling for Wolfowitz's removal "for a long time now," and perhaps the move was Bush's way of honoring that request.
But U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow praised Wolfowitz's appointment, saying he was a proven leader, manager and diplomat and that the World Bank would benefit from his set of skills and passion for the bank's cause.
"(Wolfowitz) is a highly qualified candidate for this post, which is one of great magnitude and far-reaching consequences," Snow said in a statement.
The selection came on the heels of another Bush pick that has courted criticism: the nomination of John Bolton to be U.N. ambassador.
Bolton, currently the State Department's arms control chief, has spoken dismissively of the United Nations in the past.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
