WASHINGTON — Two years ago, when Paul D. Wolfowitz left the Pentagon to head the World Bank, he was under fire over his role in the Iraq war, but he approached his new job with the same moral fervor and appetite for shaking up the status quo that had marked his tenure at the Defense Department.
Wasting no time, he launched a campaign against corrupt borrowers. He cut off loans to uncooperative countries without consulting other officials. He created ethics police to monitor employees. He even chopped back the bank's traditionally lavish Christmas party.
Now, having sown the wind, Wolfowitz has reaped the whirlwind.
The controversy over how his girlfriend landed a good job and large salary increases has brought to the surface deep-seated resentments from almost every quarter.
"When the match was lit, the fire exploded. The gas was already in the room," said a former Treasury Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of close ties to the bank.
On Friday, with Wolfowitz's job on the line, the Bush administration faced two questions: how hard to fight for him and how much damage his ouster would cause.
The bank's board of directors continued to say it was pondering the matter. But one clue emerged about how tough the infighting had become: a leaked report that European governments had decided to cut off contributions to the bank's loan funds if Wolfowitz did not resign.
Publicly, the White House reiterated its support for Wolfowitz, but it was not clear how hard it was prepared to push behind the scenes. Wolfowitz is not a U.S. official but was nominated by President Bush; by tradition, the United States -- the bank's largest financial backer -- picks the president.
"The president has full confidence in Paul Wolfowitz," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "He's done a remarkable job at the World Bank, where they are working to lift people up out of poverty from around the world. He's apologized for the matter, and his board is undergoing an internal review.
"And we expect him to remain as World Bank president -- he has the president's support," she said.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the U.S. representative on the World Bank's board -- Clay Lowery, assistant Treasury secretary for international affairs -- "is representing the United States and he knows that President Bush supports President Wolfowitz."
