Verbatim: Jul. 11, 2005

By DEPARTMENT Monday, July 11, 2005

    • "Amid all this violence, I know Americans ask the question: 'Is the sacrifice worth it?' It is worth it."

    PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, in a speech at Fort Bragg, N.C., defending the war in Iraq and his decision not to set a deadline to pull out troops

    "The guy from White House advance, during the initial meetings, said, 'Be careful not to let this become a pep rally.'"

    TOM EARNHARDT, public-affairs officer at Fort Bragg, on why soldiers did not applaud much during the speech

    "You could make him a blond and shave his whiskers, put him in a zoot suit, and I'd still spot him."

    CHUCK SCOTT, retired Army colonel who, along with four other U.S. hostages released in 1980 after being held in Iran for 444 days, identified Iranian President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as one of their captors; the government of Iran denies the allegations

    "Even if you seize all the property of others, you will suffer all your life."

    NARRATOR, in Saddam Hussein's soon-to-be-published novel Get Out, Damned One, a thinly veiled parable of his views on U.S. actions since Sept. 11 that was written in 2003

    "We were not the first, but I am sure we will not be the last."

    JOSE LUIS RODRIGUEZ ZAPATERO, Prime Minister of Spain, expressing his approval of the law that made his country the third to legalize same-sex marriage, two days after Canada's House affirmed a similar bill that the Senate is expected to pass this month

    "I didn't know we had that many people on our court."

    WILLIAM REHNQUIST, Supreme Court Chief Justice, after enumerating the concurring and dissenting opinions in two Ten Commandments cases, both decided last week in 5-4 votes

    "Everybody out there who calls us spoiled because we play 'a game'--they can kiss my a__ ... We don't want you in the rink, we don't want you in the stadium, we don't want you to watch hockey."

    JEREMY ROENICK, Philadelphia Flyers center, in response to fans who criticized NHL players for their role in last season's cancellation

    Sources: New York Times (2); Associated Press (3); New York Times; Pittsburgh Tribune-Review