Brooke M. Campbell, writing for LewRockwell.com on To Whom It May Concern:
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.”
Of course, we are all supposed to believe that every man and woman in uniform was gung-ho to kill and supported this war unquestionably and that they are all registered Republicans. Last year, Rush Limbaugh stated something to the effect that if the troops don’t commit a coup, then they are unquestionably supportive of policy. Mr. Limbaugh was either high (again) or confusing the concept of following an order with liking said order. For a hypocritical big government conservative chickenhawk like Limbaugh to understand such a concept is so frigging far out of the realm of possibility that I’m almost ashamed to have even mentioned it. Almost.
More from Ms. Campbell:
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.
Read the whole commentary. If you supported this war, read it twice. For all the cheerleading of “Support The Troops” and “dissent is treason,” these folks are nowhere to be seen for someone like Ms. Campbell, whose brother is dead and is of no more use to the chickenhawk brigade.
Blood. Hands. Yours.