Many of you have said that there should be no further investigation because it would "disrespect" or "dishonor" the dead. I believe that you are mistaken, gentlemen, but I respect the opinion that you have. However, one Senator has now said that there should be no further investigation because it is too expensive. I have no respect for this whatsoever. Considering that the cost of a select committee is only that of a few computers and staff members, it is spectacularly cruel and cold-hearted of this Senator to value economy over humanity. An Imperial world is in ruin, billions of innocent people are dead and hundreds more displaced, and this Senator is unwilling to spend a minuscule percent of what is spent on, say, Star Destroyers to find out what happened to this world and these people? The few survivors must wander this galaxy without knowing what truly happened to their son, or daughter, or father, or mother because this Senator does not consider the agony, the anguish of these people, who have been through so much, to be worth the cost of the lights and heating of a committee room for only 2 or 3 days of a week, and for only 2 or 3 weeks of a year? This Senator will, with a smile on his face, spend 10 trillion credits on weapons of war but will not spend a mere 10 thousand to ascertain the consequences of those weapons? The consequences, I might add, not in facts and figures but in lives, in families, in blood of innocent beings.

The fate of Caamas cannot be measured in credits. The amount of dust and debris in the air that were once people like you and I, and now cling to your clothes, to your hair, to your pores and nostrils, cannot be valued in money. How does this Senator propose to measure the price of things that could have been, but never will? Of children that could have been born, but never will? What wonders might they have built? What masterpieces might they have painted? What cures might they have found? I want to know if this Senator really believes that none of this is worth the cost of one damn committee—of a desk and some chairs and computers. If his answer is no, I believe there is something deeply, profoundly defective in his character and his compassion, if indeed he has either. And this defect must weigh upon the consideration, if not the conscience, of those who sent him here to represent them. I refuse to believe that the people of Commenor are as cold and callous as their Senator, and I will go there if I must to personally solicit their support for this committee. I will spread this message from Chasin City to the Munto valley if I have to, and see if this Senator really represents the will of his people on this matter.