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["Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>]

To Whom it May Concern, 

I found out that my brother, Sergeant Ryan M. Campbell, was dead during a 
graduate seminar at Emory University on April 29, 2004. Immediately after a 
uniformed officer knocked at my mother's door to deliver the message that 
broke her heart, she called me on my cell phone. She could say nothing but 
"He's gone." I could say nothing but "No." Over and over again we chanted 
this refrain to each other over the phone as I made my way across the country 
to hold her as she wept. 

I had made the very same trip in February, cutting classes to spend my 
brother's two weeks' leave from Baghdad with him. Little did I know then that 
the next time I saw him would be at Arlington National Cemetery. During those 
days in February, my brother shared with me his fear, his disillusionment, 
and his anger. "We had all been led to believe that Iraq posed a serious 
threat to America as well as its surrounding nations," he said. "We invaded 
expecting to find weapons of mass destruction and a much more prepared and 
well-trained Republican Guard waiting for us. It is now a year later, and 
alas, no weapons of mass destruction or any other real threat, for that 
matter." 

Ryan was scheduled to complete his one-year assignment to Iraq on April 25. 
But on April 11, he emailed me to let me know not to expect him in Atlanta 
for a May visit, because his tour of duty had been involuntarily extended. 
"Just do me one big favor, ok?" he wrote. "Don't vote for Bush. No. Just 
don't do it. I would not be happy with you." 

Last night, I listened to George W. Bush's live, televised speech at the 
Republican National Convention. He spoke to me and my family when he 
announced, "I have met with parents and wives and husbands who have received 
a folded flag, and said a final goodbye to a soldier they loved. I am awed 
that so many have used those meetings to say that I am in their prayers and 
to offer encouragement to me. Where does strength like that come from? How 
can people so burdened with sorrow also feel such pride? It is because they 
know their loved one was last seen doing good. Because they know that liberty 
was precious to the one they lost. And in those military families, I have 
seen the character of a great nation: decent, and idealistic, and strong." 

This is my reply: Mr. President, I know that you probably still "don't do 
body counts," so you may not know that almost one thousand U.S. troops have 
died doing what you told them they had to do to protect America. Ryan was 
Number 832. Liberty was, indeed, precious to the one I lost-- so precious 
that he would rather have gone to prison than back to Iraq in February. Like 
you, I don't know where the strength for "such pride" on the part of people 
"so burdened with sorrow" comes from; maybe I spent it all holding my mother 
as she wept. I last saw my loved one at the Kansas City airport, staring 
after me as I walked away. I could see April 29 written on his sad, 
sand-chapped and sunburned face. I could see that he desperately wanted to 
believe that if he died, it would be while "doing good," as you put it. He 
wanted us to be able to be proud of him. Mr. President, you gave me and my 
mother a folded flag instead of the beautiful boy who called us "Moms" and 
"Brookster." But worse than that, you sold my little brother a bill of goods. 
Not only did you cheat him of a long meaningful life, but you cheated him of 
a meaningful death. You are in my prayers, Mr. President, because I think 
that you need them more than anyone on the face of the planet. But you will 
never get my vote. 

So to whom it may concern: Don't vote for Bush. No. Just don't do it. I would 
not be happy with you. 

Sincerely, 
Brooke M. Campbell 
Atlanta, GA