After the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, L. Paul Bremer took over the surely unpleasant task of heading the Coalition Provisional Authority (remember the "coalition"?). Some critics blamed him for the billions of reconstruction dollars that went unaccounted for under his watch. But that's not what NPR's "Day to Day" interviewed him about on today's show. Instead, host Madeleine Brand asked him about his painting. As in, realistic landscapes executed primarily in Vermont, where Bremer lives part-time. The homepage of his website features what he considers his best painting so far: a quintessential red barn in Cavendish. Though still an amateur, Bremer does sell his work. He says he donates proceeds from sales to nonprofit historical societies in Vermont. You can see his paintings here.
Bremer was one of the most incompetent minds of the Bush Administration.
He belongs in prison. He has no right to be living such a comfortable life.
Posted by: one_vermonter | March 11, 2009 at 08:45 PM
The viceroy should should shrink the resolution of the photos on his website.
Posted by: Haik Bedrosian | March 11, 2009 at 08:49 PM
It is weird, I agree, to think of someone like Paul Bremer contemplating the sides of a Vermont barn without a care in the world. I find it interesting that so many diverse invididuals 'escape' to this state.
Posted by: pamela polston | March 11, 2009 at 10:23 PM
That's what I love about Vermont nowadays....so open minded and so welcoming.
I guess for some of you it's just easier to hate..and to hate...and to hate.
Posted by: Scot Shumski | March 12, 2009 at 11:32 PM
I don't hate Bremer, or anyone, Scot. I wish him well in his painting career. I just hate that we went into an unnecessary war that squandered thousands of lives and billions of dollars--and still is.
Posted by: pamela polston | March 13, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Gee Scott, I guess you aren't familiar with the history of the Iraq war.
It isn't that the Iraq war was unnecessary. That call wasn't made by Bremer. It's that Bremer was so incompetent at running the Coalition Provisional Authority that it cost the lives of thousands of American soldiers and many brave Iraqis who were fighting for their own country.
He squandered billions of dollars.
He was flatly criminally incompetent.
Dismantling the Iraqi army? Stupid and not thought out.
"De-Bathification"? Incompetent and not thought out.
Mismanagement of Iraqi Oil Revenue? Criminal.
Literally losing billions of US dollars in cash? Criminal.
Allowing Blackwater to run rampant in Iraq with no accountability? Criminal.
The man belongs in prison. Anyone with a truly open mind could look back at what he did and see that.
Posted by: one_vermonter | March 13, 2009 at 10:14 PM