March 5, 2004 | Dear President Bush:

My husband, Luis Eduardo Torres, was at his second day of work at Cantor
Fitzgerald when he was killed on Sept. 11. He jumped from the 105th
floor of the North Tower. Most of his upper body was recovered,
identifiable only through dental records. I was seven months pregnant at
the time.

It is with him in mind that I'm writing to you, to question your
disturbing reelection ad campaign. Yesterday I saw the three ads you're
now running all over the country, specifically on cable stations in the
"swing states," where you feel you need to come out fighting strong. It
was the "Safer, Stronger" ad that shocked me the most. At the
commercial's midpoint, the words, "Then ... a day of tragedy"
dramatically appear on the somber black screen. And the centerpiece: an
image of ground zero, the hulking remains of a tower, alongside a human
corpse, carried out by several firefighters. Both the tower and the
human are draped in American flags.

The flags were intended to honor ground zero and the remains of the
dead, but here they are merely props, used to add a powerful patriotic
punch to your message. The tower and the corpse are two hideously broken
and disfigured things behind and under the flag, and your image -- with
your red tie, white shirt, and blue suit, standing in front of thick
strong white columns -- serves as another, symbolic, flag.

That image of ground zero, and the body shrouded with the flag, reminded
me of the sulfur from the few pathetic remnants of my husband's last
day: his Cantor ID, Debitchek Meal Card and subway Metrocard.

I thought I'd finished dealing with the gruesome aspects of his dead
body, but it came back to me during your commercial. I had a thought I'd
never had befo Was every corpse draped in an American flag as it
emerged from ground zero, or was it just an honor bestowed upon the
uniformed workers? What if that was my husband's body, now serving as a
"spokesman" for your campaign?

I canceled my toddler's afternoon activities so I could do research. I
could hear my voice quake as I called the medical examiner and the
mayor's office. Initially, uniformed personnel were the only ones
wrapped in the flag, I learned -- but it became standard practice to
cover all the dead in that way.

In effect, then, Mr. Bush, you've paraded all our 9/11 dead out as the
official mascots of your reelection campaign. You use them to show our
nation that you can protect us against what we should all fear the most
-- being an anonymous corpse in another attack.

But these sleights of image and crafty juxtapositions are the only true
demonstrations of your leadership abilities. After all, on that tragic
day you didn't actually lead the nation: according to the work of the
"Jersey girls" -- the four 9/11 widows who fought to have an independent
commission investigate the tragedy -- your first reaction to the plane
hitting the North Tower was to blame the pilot. And you continued your
activities -- reading stories to a group of young schoolchildren. And as
you try to impress our nation with your role during and after 9/11 in
these ads, you refuse to talk meaningfully to the independent commission
about the specifics of your role prior to 9/11 and how much you knew
about a potential large-scale al-Qaida plot.

I didn't think that co-opting 9/11 with such disregard for those of us
who have been affected by this tragedy would anger me so much. I hope
that John Kerry doesn't use 9/11 to strengthen his own candidacy . But
so many 9/11 families are sick at your use of our sadness ... I can't
imagine it being any worse than where you have already led us.