Verbatim

"I would like you to please hurry ... Come sooner than September."
HAMID KARZAI, Afghan President, appealing to NATO to speed up its deployment of 3,500 additional troops to help tighten security ahead of Afghanistan's national election in September

"Let freedom reign!"
GEORGE W. BUSH, U.S. President, in a note after being informed that sovereign power in Iraq had been officially passed to the Iraqis

"God created the world in six days. How can we expect Allawi to improve things in one?"
ADIL JABBAR, Baghdad merchant, commenting on...

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