Butterfly effect

Is it true that if you believe you can make something happen then it will happen? This morning I spent a few hours carefully crafting letters to politicians requesting that my buddy be brought home from training rather than be mobilized to his tour of duty in Iraq. I haven't mailed the letters yet because the mail had already arrived before I finished my letters, and because I am asking his family's permission to send these letters in case they don't want me to for fear that he will suffer repercussions from my efforts.
But, I am so delusional that I am convinced my letters are going to bring him home. Could that possibly happen? Could my detailed letter showing his decline over the past month really convince someone in power to release him from his hell? There is a twinge in my brain that says, "why would they release this soldier and not every soldier? what makes him so special?" My answer to that side of my brain is so complex and deeply confidential, a secret between a soldier and his trusted friend, but a secret that he has allowed me to share with these politicians who can decide the next twist and turn in his life's path. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the stars align and I am the butterfly who stirs up the gale force wind that carries him home.