I don't trust the World Bank - especially when crazy man Paul W is at the helm

I am reading a book called "Confession of an Economic Hit Man" (by John Perkins) and it's an interesting read. Don't know yet if I think it's fully accurate or not, but of the bits of history I am aware, and of the places it touches upon that I have personally travelled to - I have to say, it has captured a lot of detail and the history and detail I know match very closely to the points in the book. So - maybe the more diabolical elements of this tome are also correct.

With that said, I have issues in general with the WTO and the World Bank, the IMF and several other organizations that claim to be helping 3rd world less developed nations but yet, year after year, time in and time out, seem to leave places worse off than they found them, leave them in as dire or more dire straights, but also manage to saddle them with back breaking debt to the western world as well.

Here's an article I read today. And below that are a few older articles on the topic still available. It paints a picture much less on the side of the World Bank, and much more in line with the assertions presented in "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man". {Link to Amazon if you want to buy it}

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4568640.stm This one is from today.

Excerpts:

"World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said the law was a deciding factor in the
bank's financial support for a massive oil pipeline project in 1999."

"The government wants to use the $36m (£21m) held in the fund to deal with some
of the country's financial problems, which include months of unpaid salaries."

Further reading -
This is a telling article from Oct 8 2004:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3728340.stm
Excerpt:

"The government of Chad has accused a US-Malaysian oil consortium of cheating it
out of oil royalties."

And this one from September 7, 2005:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4219804.stm
Excerpt:

"The Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline contract may impair the countries' ability to
protect farmers, fishermen and others affected, Amnesty International says."

"The governments face cash penalties if they interfere with the ExxonMobil-led
project, according to Amnesty. "