Verbatim: Apr. 12, 2004

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"I've ordered this level of cooperation because I consider it necessary to gaining a complete picture of the months and years that preceded the murder of our fellow citizens on Sept. 11." PRESIDENT BUSH, on why, after initially refusing, he decided to allow National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify in public under oath before the independent commission investigating the 9/11 attacks

"Prophet Muhammad prohibited even the mutilation of a dead mad dog ... What happened in Fallujah is a distortion of Islamic principles, and it is forbidden in Islam." SHEIK KHALID AHMED, senior Islamic cleric in Fallujah, condemning the mutilation of the corpses of four U.S. civilians by Iraqis

"I'm fascinated by rap and by hip-hop. I think there's a lot of poetry in it. There's a lot of anger, a lot of social energy in it. And I think you'd better listen to it pretty carefully, 'cause it's important." SENATOR JOHN KERRY, responding to a viewer's question during an MTV "Choose or Lose" forum

"It was pretty steamy stuff for the middle of the afternoon." MICHAEL J. COPPS, FCC commissioner, who has led a review of indecency in broadcasting, on a television soap opera he inadvertently stumbled upon while channel surfing

"I do want my life back to normal, because it's hard. It's so hard. But at the same time I'm like, Wow, I get to go to New York. I get to go to Hollywood. I get to hang out with people like Britney and Leonardo." JESSICA LYNCH, former POW, on her life a year after her rescue

"She's not a big TV watcher and doesn't really read the newspapers." JIMMY JAM, record producer, claiming Janet Jackson remained unaffected by the furor over her breast-baring Super Bowl stunt

Sources: New York Times; AP; SOHH.com Washington Times; AP (2)