>By Christopher Swannin Washington
>Published: April 18 2006 03:00 | Last updated: April 18 2006 03:00
>>
Paul Wolfowitz, the president of the World Bank and one of the main advocates within the Bush administration for the invasion of Iraq, is considering sending bank staff back to the troubled state to help with rebuilding.
"One of the things we are looking at is whether we would be more effective if we had a presence in Iraq," Mr Wolfowitz has said. "It's a difficult environment to operate [in] so the disbursement rate is pretty low."
The World Bank withdrew its personnel from Iraq in August 2003 following a bombing near its headquarters. Since then the international lender has run its operations from Amman, the Jordanian capital.
Returning staff to Iraq would be seen as a vote of confidence in the ability of the US to stabilise the country, which some fear is descending into civil war between Shia and Sunni communities.
Four months after elections, progress towards forming a government has been slow. In the absence of a government the World Bank has not be able to disburse a $500m (£290m) loan, which would be the first time in 33 years the lender has extended credit to Iraq.
In his previous role as US deputy defence secretary, Mr Wolfowitz was closely associated with the decision to invade Iraq, arguing that US forces would be greeted as liberators.
The latest estimates show that about 2,600 US troops and about 38,600 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the conflict.
Mr Wolfowitz said the plan to move staff back into Iraq would be discussed over the next few weeks.
The International Monetary Fund has already been active in Iraq, arranging a $685m lending programme in December 2005 and a $436m loan in 2004.
An official at the World Bank said that staff security would be of paramount concern and deployment would be strictly voluntary. "We will only send in staff when we are sure they will be able to perform in a safe environment," the official said.
In addition to the concerns over civil order, the bank is worried by high levels of corruption.
"We need to have more assurance" about the government's efforts to combat corruption before lending money, Mr Wolfowitz said. Transparency International ranked Iraq 137th in the world, along with Indonesia, in its Corruption Perception's Index for 2005.
Despite the symbolism, experts are unsure how much practical difference the return of World Bank staff to Iraq would make.