[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 66 (Monday, April 24, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S5565]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         AN UNSPEAKABLE TRAGEDY

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, let me join my colleague, Senator Dole 
from Kansas, and my colleague, Senator Nickles from Oklahoma, and 
others, I am sure, who will today speak of the nearly unspeakable 
tragedy that occurred in Oklahoma City.
  It is very hard to even describe the horror that has been visited on 
so many families, so many innocent victims. My hope is that in this 
period of national discussion and reconciliation dealing with this 
tragedy that we will find ways, again, as Americans, to speak of how we 
resolve differences and how we deal with grievances in our country 
without resorting to violence.
  We have been offered as a people far too many sights and sounds on 
television of acts of terror visited on people living in foreign lands. 
Often it passes before the television screen and does not make much of 
an impact.
  Obviously, this tragedy is more immediate. It occurs in the heartland 
of our country. It is the worst tragedy of its type in the history of 
our country. It comes at a time when there is a great deal of debate 
and unsettled feelings in our country about a lot of things. I hope it 
will require all of us again to decide that in our country, we make 
decisions in a process by which we debate and discuss and then 
peacefully resolve our differences in a democratic way and in a 
democratic system.
  So my heart and prayers go to those in Oklahoma City, those who have 
lost family members, those victims who lost their lives, and those many 
others who devoted their lives in recent days and nights--often 24 
hours a day--trying to help their fellow man and woman.


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