Verbatim: Feb. 16, 2004

"They never said there was an imminent threat. Rather, they painted an objective assessment ... of a brutal dictator who was continuing his efforts to deceive and build programs that might constantly surprise us and threaten our interests." GEORGE TENET, CIA Director, defending his agency, following criticism that it overstated the threat from weapons of mass destruction before the war in Iraq

"I don't know." COLIN POWELL, Secretary of State, when asked whether he would have recommended an invasion of Iraq had he known that it had no stockpiles of banned weapons; later he reiterated that the President's decision to go to war was correct

"Am I disappointed? Naturally. But am I proud of what we stood for in this campaign? You bet I am." JOE LIEBERMAN, Connecticut Senator, announcing the end to his presidential campaign

"Nobody comes inside and checks our things. We check them ourselves." PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, Pakistani President, rejecting any U.N. supervision of Pakistan's nuclear program, following revelations that its nuclear secrets had been illegally passed to other nations

"She's in a better place. She got there in a horrific manner, but now she's watching me all the time." JOE BRUCIA, father of Carlie Brucia, 11, a Florida girl whose body was found after her abduction at a car wash was caught on a surveillance videotape

"I would say his role is definitely overstated, but he probably loves it." LAURA BUSH, First Lady, on the reputation of her husband's chief political adviser, Karl Rove

"Because the NFL cannot prevail on any of these defenses, the rule must be sacked." SHIRA A. SCHEINDLIN, U.S. District Court judge, using football metaphors in her ruling that the NFL's eligibility rule for teenagers violates antitrust laws

Sources: New York Times; Washington Post; Hartford Courant; New York Times; AP; UPI; New York Times