Paul Bremer - New Canaan's Pontius Pilate

Paul Bremer - New Canaan's Pontius Pilate

By William A. Collins

02/08/06 "Minuteman Media" -- -- Paul Bremer came to New Canaan the other night to speak. It is, after all, his old hometown. Thus, the visit was, first of all, a case of local boy makes good, which, of course, a lot of New Canaanites do. It was also the tour kickoff for Bremer’s new book, “My Year In Iraq.” His listeners well understood book tours, and publishing, and publicity, and hype.

And colonialism. You’ll recall that President Bush appointed Bremer as the first head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, as soon as the military’s mission in Iraq was “accomplished.” The Romans once called this job “proconsul,” the appointed ruler of a conquered territory. Their most storied incumbent was Pontius Pilate, though our grasp of his actual duties and performance in Judea remain somewhat hazy.

Not so with Bremer’s. His work was precisely laid out in Washington and he performed it with quiet ferocity. His first task was to turn over Iraq’s traditional publicly owned enterprises to foreign investors. He started with electricity. (In California, this was analogous to deregulation.) Next to go was the public water supply, and soon the telephone system. New Canaan can identify with this sort of privatization.

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Needless to say, Bremer’s was the kind of performance that New Canaan could cheer, and did. But there were complications. His talk was sponsored by the public library, so there were overtones of free speech. At least until the library detected that anti-war folks were planning to attend. That changed everything. Abruptly the venue was shifted to St. Luke’s private school out in the four-acre zoning wilderness. Names of known protesters who had signed up early disappeared from the approved attendance list. The police blanketed the entrance to keep out dissidents while the Secret Service patrolled inside. The town takes care of its own.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11833.htm

criminal. Basically they are, each and every one of them, cowards. Doesn't matter if they duck and run for cover or they have someone else do the ducking and running for them, they are still cowards. They can't face the enemy, they have others do the dirty work for them. And when they have to go in public, or anywhere, they are surrounded by armed guards with enough fire power to take down a small banana republic.

One day, if this world survives, the shame and disgrace of this country will be recorded. The story of the bush** cabal and its criminal acts will be their legacy.

That's where Annthrax Coulter is from, too.

that remark. Not really. I grew up in New Canaan. It was a lot more repub then. It's actually gotten better. Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon live there and so does Brian Williams. My mother was chair of the town dems for years. It was a small group. She's still involved with the public library. (My brother went to St. Luke's) I'll have to get the scoop on all this from her. Bremer is so repulsive, and he's now a Vermonter as well as a New Canaanite. Blechh.

That was very Bill O'Reilly of me. I'm ashamed.

I would love to be on hand to "greet" him.