"The Earth Is Shaking Under My Feet"

Day Four: As we approach the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War, we continue our series of thoughts, and words written between 2003 and 2008. In April 2004, U.S. forces laid siege to the Iraqi city of Falujah, and I sent an e-mail to President George W. Bush. As usual with this administration, public opinion and the advice of experts was scorned. A city and its people were destroyed. Now the war drums are beating again, bringing us ever closer to what could be another disastrous decision. Tuesday’s resignation of Admiral William Fallon, head of the U.S. Central Command was apparently forced upon him by the George W. Bush administration because Fallon is opposed to plans to attack Iran. We can do no less that Admiral Fallon. We also must voice our dissent. NO MORE WAR!

“The Earth Is Shaking Under My Feet”
April 2004

For weeks now my country has held siege to Falluja, a city of some 300,000 Iraqi citizens. The operation was begun on 5 April, to “pacify” insurgent fighters responsible for the death and mutilation of four security contractors. A fragile truce was agreed upon while attempts to negotiate a solution took place. The rest of the world and I waited. Members of Iraq’s US-appointed governing council condemned the early US military operation in Falluja. The U.N. senior adviser Lakhdar Brahimi visited Iraq and before leaving described the siege as unacceptable collective punishment of Fallujah’s people for the misdeeds of a few. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 25 April 2004) He also said the US had to learn how to live with a world in which it was the only super-power. “There are lots of other people on this planet,” he said. “They (US) should make an effort to learn how to live with them.” (BBC News, 23 March 2004).

And so we blocked access to the city’s main hospital (BBC News 23 March 2004), forcing makeshift clinics to be set up with medical supplies scarce. We flew in AC-130 gunships and high-flying bombers, dropped 2,000 pound bombs on insurgent sniper positions, and answered Muslim prayers with barrages of heavy metal rock, part of a psychological operations campaign to goad the insurgents into a fighting frenzy. (Pamela Constable, Washington Post Foreign Service, April 27, 2004). Pacify with force.

After watching the eleven o’clock news, filled with violent images of war and a president saying “America will never be run out of Iraq by a bunch of thugs and killers,” I went to bed with a sense of foreboding. This morning I woke early, a letter to the President already composed in my head. I wrote this e-mail:

A LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT
27 April 2004

Mr. President -

Since I became eligible to vote in 1960, I have seen many administrations come and go - some good and some bad - but I have never felt the alarm that I feel today. You and your long-reaching policies have so affected this nation that I fear we will never be able to recover. The middle class is disappearing, rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution eroding, the environment permanently damaged, global warming a certainty, and our nation has been led into a course of war that has become nothing more than a modern day "Crusade." The Iraq War - a preemptive strike - was an act of aggression. An unlawful act of aggression that I protested against then, knowing it was morally wrong and would only lead to what has now occurred - an inflamed Islamic region.

We are now fighting the Iraqi people - the very people you say we are setting free. Saddam killed thousands of innocent people. How many have we killed? On the one-year anniversary, the death toll for Iraqi civilians is estimated to be from 8,865 to 10,715. And through bullying, insensitivity, ignorance, and disregard to world opinion and the wise words of other people, our young men and women have been put into a no-win situation. Whatever is done in Iraq now will have disastrous results making the world even more dangerous, not safer. Indeed, it is far more dangerous now than when you entered office and embarked on your "War on Terrorism" - or "Good Vs. Evil."

Osama bin Laden was responsible for 9/11. You and your administration are responsible for Iraq - the death of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians, the destruction of their homes, businesses, hospitals, and mosques - and very soon, the lives of thousands of American soldiers who mistakenly believe they are sacrificing their lives for my freedom. It is an irony that while they die for my freedom, the so-called Patriot Act is taking that freedom away from me. And you have the audacity to say that God is on your side? You carry God's message to the world? Nonsense! If you were a private citizen, I would defend your right to believe that. But as my President, the stakes are too high for you to use your personal beliefs to govern and lead this country. That is very dangerous ground.

I am an American citizen and it is my patriotic right and responsibility to voice my dissent. You are the President, and it is your responsibility to listen to, and consider all views of this citizenry - not just those who agree with you. You like to say, "You're either with me or against me." Well... I am against you, but that is because I am FOR my country and all that it once stood for.

P. L. Morningstar
Friday Harbor, Washington


I hit SEND NOW, feeling satisfied that at least I was doing something, not standing by in silence while my country moves from one blunder to another, leaving death and destruction in its path. My satisfaction was short lived. By afternoon, a Reuter’s headline announced, U.S. FORCES BLAST FALLUJA TARGETS AFTER DEADLINE. “I can hear more than 10 explosions a minute. Fires are lighting the night sky,” one witness told Reuters, “The earth is shaking under my feet.”

A deserted street in the western part of Fallujah, Iraq,
Saturday, Nov. 13, 2004. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

U.S. patrol of Fallujah, 2004. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)