From BBC News:

"Paul Wolfowitz, the new head of the World Bank, has said his main goal will be to achieve "real success" in cutting poverty, particularly in Africa. "

"The US deputy defence secretary said he wanted his legacy to be "real success in reducing poverty especially in Africa, the continent which most desperately needs it". "

There are many people out there who do not believe he is sincere in those words. After all, this guy was the US Deputy Defence Secretary during the war in Iraq - the same war which seemed to so many people to be about MAKING MONEY off oil - by taking over a very poor country and exploiting it.

But I'll take off my left-leaning hat for a second and give this guy the benefit of the doubt. We can say that whether or not the war was about oil is irrelevant because when the citizens of Iraq went to vote for the first time, it was a day worth celebrating. We can also say that maybe Mr. Wolfowitz had an epifany when he saw the destruction caused by the tsunami disaster. Perhaps he realized that without debt reduction programs in these countries, they will never stand a chance should another large scale disaster hit. Maybe he realizes that there are more people to be helped, many in Africa or places like that than just the people directly hit by the tsunami.

I hope he does. Debt reduction and debt forgiveness program is one of the ways we can give lasting help to those poorer countries. His sentiments are so great, I really WANT to believe that he means what he said.

Only time will tell