Verbatim

"I've been in war and I've been through a number of hurricanes, tornadoes and otherrelief operations, but I have never seen anything like this."
COLIN POWELL, U.S. Secretary of State, after surveying the devastation in Aceh, Indonesia, caused by the tsunami that struck on Dec. 26

"The world is not overreacting to the tsunami, but is underreacting to misery in other places."
DAVID BECKMANN, president of Bread for the World, a Christian charity, on the comparative lack of international interest in many of the world's humanitarian crises

"At first there were some friends with...