Verbatim

"Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof--the smoking gun--that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." GEORGE W. BUSH, declaring that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could be within a year of developing a nuclear weapon

"Usually I'm embarrassed to walk around and hold my mom's hand, but I don't care today." AMANDA WIEDMAIER, 13, as she returned to Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie, Md., a day after a fellow student was wounded by a sniper

"It's difficult to identify people because they have been completely charred." INDONESIAN POLICEMAN on the resort island of Bali, where scores of people, many of them tourists, were killed in two bomb blasts

"Long after [the election] is over and they go on to the next set of issues, I'm still going to be cleaning up this mess." HARVEY PITT, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, defending himself against critics asking for his ouster

"I can't believe what I'm caught up in. I just gotta hang on to the oars and keep rowing." ROBERT BLAKE, actor accused of orchestrating the murder of his wife

Sources: the New York Times; AP; Reuters; the Wall Street Journal; the Washington Post