Ridgefield Press
RELIGION: Iraq veteran will speak at Jesse Lee Sunday
Mar 11, 2006

Lt. Col. Bill Brown of Milford, left, who will speak here Sunday, is shown meeting with Iraqi government officials last year. �We work with top level Provincial government officials,� said Lt. Col. Brown. �In this case, it is a time of transition for them and we are trying to help get them established and help empower them.� �Marine Corps photo

An Iraq veteran and government lawyer who helped Iraqis develop the constitution they are now struggling to make work will speak at Jesse Lee Methodist Church on Sunday.
Lt. Col. Bill Brown is a Marine reservist who served in Iraq, and is a high school friend of Jesse Lee Pastor Bill Pfohl.
�Bill is an assistant U.S. attorney in Connecticut,� Pastor Pfohl said. �He did about a year in Iraq, and as a lawyer his responsibility was to be working on developing the constitution of Iraq, helping them build the government. He appeared a couple of times on CNN as they were talking about the process.�
Lt. Col. Brown will speak after the second  service this Sunday, March 12, in Martin Hall, in the basement of the church right off the King Lane parking lot.
The service starts at 10:45, and after it finishes there will be a little light lunch before Lt. Col. Brown�s talk.
�The service ends, folks will come down, they�ll grab a little bite to eat and we�ll mill around until basically everyone who�s gathering has gathered. We�ll probably have to set up some technology,� Mr. Pfohl said.
�He said to me he�s got a host of video and pictures and other kinds of things to share.�
Mr. Pfohl said Lt. Brown believed �the story�s much broader� that what most Americans understand from watching the nightly news.
�What it�s like day in and day out is certainly broader that you can get from even the best reporting, five minutes here and there between other stories,� he said.
Lt. Col Brown got to know a range of Iraqis, from government authorities working on the drafts of the constitution to the people picking up garbage.
�He�s got lots of personal stories about being able to meet with and be with the people,� Mr. Pfohl said.  �...He had a cross section of experiences with folks who were just trying to make the community work.�
Pastor Pfohl and Lt. Col. Brown played together on Trumbull High School�s FCIA champion basketball team in 1982.

EDITORIAL: How can Pastor Bill, who has e-mailed me in the name of peace, use our church as a religious place for a US military officer and fellow high school basketball buddy to talk about the killing of innocent Iraqi people? Pastor Bill is supposed to be a minister of peace, and yet he has lowered himself to a man who advocates the killing of innocent people. Why? Pastor Bill, you are not playing basketball with your former teammate anymore in high school, who is now part of an American military invasion of Iraq to destroy its people and culture. Grow up Pastor Bill, get a real life. Or perhaps, you should defrock yourself as the most despicable minister at Jesse Lee United Methodist Church in Ridgefield, Connecticut and join the US military to act out your killer instincts in life. Al Bruhn, member of Jesse Lee United Methodist Church, Ridgefield, Connecticut.