Lynn C. Woolsey: “a friend of mine has sent me a short and moving poem; and I want to share it tonight. She writes, ``I weep for my…”

“a friend of mine has sent me a short and moving poem; and I want to share it tonight. She writes, ``I weep for my country. We seem to have completely lost our way. I want the government to be as generous as private people are. I want my government to do as well as WalMart is doing. I weep for my country. I want black faces to count as much as mine. I need hope, not statistics, platitudes and phony, staged play-acting. I weep for my country. We need a Marshall Plan. We need a New Deal. We need leaders in Congress to start talking about conservation, pulling together, car pooling, not opening the Alaskan oil fields. Oh, God, how I weep for my country.'' I was moved by my friend's words, and I am committed to turning her words into action. Tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock I will be convening a hearing to discuss concrete strategies for ending the war in Iraq. We will hear from Middle East experts, military leaders, and others as they offer their ideas for how we can bring our troops home and move toward a peaceful but constructive role in the rebuilding of Iraqi society. This morning brought news of a deadly series of bombings in Iraq, killing American soldiers and Iraqi civilians, more than 150 people in all, making it one of the deadliest days of this horrific war. Is this what the march of freedom looks like? Is this what Vice President Cheney meant when he said the insurgency was in its last throes?…”