The Day the President Cried

Hildi Halley, a woman from Maine whose husband, an engineer, died under unclear circumstances in Afghanistan, recently met with President Bush. She got to say all the things Cindy Sheehan didn't. The best part:

"We literally sat knee to knee...I looked deep into his eyes and talked to him about love and losing people and that he was responsible for this. I said, `I didn't vote for you, but you are my President. And you're not serving me.'

"I said I believed it was time to put an end to this. His job is to find solutions. I said, 'You yourself have said you had erroneous information going into this....As a Christian man, you realize that when you've made a mistake it's your responsiblity to end this. And it's time to end the bleeding and it's time to end the war.'

"I said, 'What would truly bring healing is to start working on changing your policy towards the Middle East...as President, you're here to serve the people. And the people are not being served with this war....It's time as a Christian to put our pride behind us."

Halley said that the President appeared moved by what she'd said, but that she doubted it would bring about any real change. "He cried with me," she recounted. "I feel he responded to me emotionally. I don't know if that's going to change policy. It probably won't. But I hope it makes him think a little bit further."