"Don't vote for Bush. No. Just don't do it. I would not be happy with you.

[billbuckhead]

I saw this letter on Truthout from the sister of a fallen soldier in Iraq. "A soldiers last request".


"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."

--------------snip-------------


Further down the page

" 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."

----------------------snip-----------------------------------

<http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/090604A.shtml>

[wtmusic]

1. "We invaded expecting to find...

a much more prepared and well-trained Republican Guard waiting for us"

as if opportunity is justification

[sadiesworld]

3. I interpreted that to mean a well-trained Republican Guard represented...

a more credible threat to the US and Iraq's neighbors,i.e., the sad shape of Saddam's forces was evidence of the BIG LIE.

[Art_from_Ark]

4. Well, considering that the (elite) "Republican Guard"

didn't invade Kuwait, and didn't do shit during Gulf War I except appear in scare stories with the obligatory adjective "elite" always attached (kinda like "radical" Muslim cleric today), how could anyone think it would be any different this time around?

[pacalo]

2. This is heartbreaking.

A war based on lies, included bullying of the CIA desk clerks to provide "evidence", caused too, too many deaths.

My motivation for keeping an eye on this administration is the fact that I have two sons who would be eligible for the draft. I will do everything in my power to prevent them from taking part in this unjust war.

[lostnfound]

5. A kick for Sergeant Ryan M. Campbell nt