Verbatim: Feb. 27, 2006

By DEPARTMENT Monday, Feb. 27, 2006

    • "I am the Jesus Christ of politics."

    SILVIO BERLUSCONI, Italian Prime Minister, describing himself as a martyr for his nation. He has also compared himself to Churchill and Napoleon in recent weeks, as he seeks re-election

    "The bottom line is that there is no U.S.-Israeli plan, project, plot, conspiracy to destabilize or undermine a future Palestinian government."

    SEAN MCCORMACK, U.S. State Department spokesman, denying reports that the U.S. and Israel plan to isolate the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority or to force new elections

    "It's personal. You don't hurt kids. You don't hurt old folks. And you don't burn churches."

    RICHARD MONTGOMERY, Alabama state fire marshal, leading an investigation into arson attacks that have damaged or destroyed 10 rural churches in the state

    "Mr. Moussaoui, you are the biggest enemy of yourself."

    LEONIE BRINKEMA, U.S. district judge, presiding over the sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, who has admitted to plotting with al-Qaeda to fly planes into U.S. buildings. Moussaoui at times has been removed from court for outbursts such as "I am al-Qaeda"

    "It just further underscores the extent of the torture and abuse and highlights the absence of accountability this many years later."

    ANTHONY ROMERO, head of the American Civil Liberties Union, on the photos aired by an Australian TV program depicting further evidence of prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003

    "Who says what's officially annoying? Is that a business we really want our government to be in?"

    CLINTON FEIN, purveyor of the website annoy.com complaining about a bill in Congress that would make it a federal crime to "annoy" someone over the Internet

    "Being in Washington is more fictional than being in Hollywood."

    GEORGE LUCAS, Star Wars creator, speaking at a White House ceremony at which his company Industrial Light & Magic was awarded the National Medal of Technology

    Sources: New York Times; CNN; New York Times; AP; Washington Post; USA Today; Washington Post