Verbatim

		LATEST COVER STORY What's Right With Japan  Gross National Cool  Music: Rinngo Sheena  Architecture: Redesigning Tokyo  Business: 7-Eleven Culture  Movies: The New Filmmakers August 11, 2003 Issue Past Issues Gloria Arroyo August 4, 2003 ----------------- Women in China July 28, 2003 ----------------- Asian Longevity July 21, 2003 ----------------- Hong Kong July 14, 2003 ----------------- Southeast Asia July 7, 2003 ----------------- Kim Jong Il June 30, 2003 ----------------- Harry Potter June 23, 2003 ----------------- Arthritis June 16, 2003 ----------------- Narco Korea June 9, 2003 ----------------- Nature vs. Nurture June 2, 2003 ----------------- Endless War? May 26, 2003 ----------------- The Democrats May 19, 2003   ASIA  India: Hindu-Muslim Tensions  China: Why Dissidents Return  Thailand: Stepping into the Ring ARTS  Movies: Leon Lai's Heroic Duo  Books: The Chinese in America NOTEBOOK  Korea: Talking About Talks  Cambodia: Hun Sen Reelected  Philippines: More Military Unrest?  Terror: Bali Bombers in Court  Milestones  Verbatim  Letters TRAVEL  The End of Long Haul Travel? CNN.com: Top Headlines

"I take personal responsibility for everything I say, of course."
George W. Bush,
finally addressing the controversy stemming from last January's State of the Union address, in which he claimed Iraq tried to buy uranium from an African country

"It's looking more and more like a case of mass deception."
Edward M. Kennedy,
U.S. Senator, on a conclusion by a government committee that the search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction will take time

"Kim Jong Il seems to care more about enriching uranium than enriching his own people."
John Bolton,
U.S. Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security

"The goal is an excuse to sell advanced weapons to Taiwan and fabricate public opinion."
Chinese Foreign Ministry,
statement issued to refute claims in an annual Pentagon report on the Chinese military that Beijing is seeking credible military options to attack Taiwan

"We gotta recognize the ones who took the hit."
Keith Richards,
Rolling Stones' guitarist, on their Toronto concert—dubbed "sars-stock"—that paid tribute to the city's 42 sars fatalities

"Notice our dead reporter did not report that Bob Hope had died Sunday."
Joseph Lelyveld,
former New York Times executive editor, on a tribute to Hope that was published last week but written several years ago by film critic Vincent Canby, who died in 2000

"Can you imagine if another country set up a betting parlor so people could go in and bet on the assassination of an American political figure?"
Byron L. Dorgan,
U.S. Senator, on a "Futures Market" prepared by the Pentagon to forecast terrorism, coups and assassinations

"It's turkey time."
Jennifer Lopez,
delivering a line in the much-panned movie Gigli, in which she stars with real-life fiancé, Ben Affleck