Verbatim: Feb. 14, 2005

"Mr. Sevan's solicitations ... presented a grave and continuing conflict of interest, were ethically improper and seriously undermined the integrity of the United Nations."

INDEPENDENT INQUIRY COMMITTEE, headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, in its interim report on the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq, singling out Benon Sevan, a Cypriot official who ran the program and is accused of, among other things, funneling contracts to a friend, a charge he denies

"I think they're going to regret the day that Howard Dean became chairman of the D.N.C."

MARK BREWER, head of the Michigan Democrats, who endorsed Dean for the job, referring to Republicans who are gloating that the fiery presidential wannabe seems likely to win the top Democratic post

"Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people."

LIEUT. GENERAL JAMES MATTIS, who commanded Marine expeditions in Afghanistan and Iraq, in panel-discussion comments for which he was later reprimanded

"I submitted my resignation to President Bush twice during that period and told him that I felt that he ought to make the decision as to whether or not I stayed on."

DONALD RUMSFELD, Secretary of Defense, speaking of the time during the Abu Ghraib prison scandal

"While it is an honor to serve the First Family, it is the same thing, night in and night out, over an extended period."

WALTER SCHEIB III, White House chef since the Clinton Administration, who says he was fired for failing to satisfy First Lady Laura Bush's "stylistic requirements"

"[It] was no place for me to grow up. It was dangerous, and there was no place for me to play."

MARISOL LUNA, a new Hispanic American Girl doll, in her "biography," which has sparked objections from residents of Pilsen, the Latino neighborhood in Chicago to which she refers

Sources: Independent Inquiry Committee; USA Today; CNN (2); New York Times; Chicago Sun-Times