Verbatim

I cannot tell how much pain the nation and I suffered due to this conspiracy.
PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, President of Pakistan, lifting a six-week state of emergency on Dec. 15 that he said was imposed to counter an alleged plot to undermine the country's democratization

They left me militia, they left me gangsters, and they left me all the troubles in the world.
JALIL KHALAF, Iraqi police commander in Basra, on British forces withdrawing from the city and surrounding province

My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali — we all know that.
AL GORE, Nobel Prize winner, on efforts at the U.N. climate-change summit to hatch a plan to cut greenhouse gases

As long as I am President of Serbia, I will never accept the independence of Kosovo.
BORIS TADIC, Serbian President, on the autonomous province of Kosovo, which is expected to unilaterally declare independence in the coming weeks

With the New Year upon us, I am left with a difficult decision: either go back to work and keep my staff employed or stay dark and allow 80 people ... to lose their jobs.
CONAN O'BRIEN, late-night TV host, on his plan to resume programming on Jan. 2 after two months of honoring the Hollywood writers' strike

I'm trying to elongate the evening.
CELINE DION, singer, who ended the last of her 717 performances at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas with seven costume changes and several speeches about her career and family