Verbatim

• Share

		LATEST COVER STORY Secrets of Asian Longevity  How to Live Long and Well July 21, 2003 Issue Past Issues 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 ----------------- Inside The Matrix May 12, 2003 ----------------- China: SARS Nation May 5, 2003 ----------------- Asian Heroes Apr. 28, 2003   ASIA  Hong Kong: Gridlocked  Tip Sheet: What's Next for Tung?  Afghanistan: Taliban Rising ARTS  Movies: Crimefighters Unbound  Art: Sing.'s Renaissance Man BUSINESS  Piracy: Wanna Buy Some Clubs?  Indonesia: Lord of the Village NOTEBOOK  China: AIDS Crackdown  North Korea: Books on Kim  Milestones  Verbatim TRAVEL  'Weddingmoons' Take Off CNN.com: Top Headlines

SCOTT HUBBARD,
Columbia Accident Investigation Board member, after a test in which a chunk of foam insulation fired at shuttle wing parts blew open a 40-cm hole

"I shall not leave this place until I find my son."

KHALEDA AKTHAR,
survivor of a ferry accident in Bangladesh, which left more than 530 people missing and presumed dead, including her five-month-old son

"I gave a speech to the nation that was cleared by the intelligence services."

GEORGE W. BUSH,
U.S. President, blaming the CIA for his assertion in the 2003 State of the Union address that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger. The information was based on forged documents that some intelligence officials considered suspect before Bush made the speech

"Our nuclear program is purely peaceful."

KAMAL KHARAZI,
Iranian Foreign Minister, welcoming a visit from the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency

"The airline is happy to carry democrats, bureaucrats, aristocrats and plutocrats, but this particular rat had not paid the appropriate fare."

QANTAS SPOKESMAN,
announcing that a stowaway rat, which had caused the grounding of a Boeing 737 three times, had been killed and removed from the plane

"Mom."

TERRY WALLIS,
39-year-old Arkansas man uttering his first word after coming out of a 19-year coma