Verbatim: Sep. 5, 2005

  • "We have the ability to take [Hugo Chávez] out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability." PAT ROBERTSON, American televangelist, on the Christian Broadcast Network program The 700 Club, referring to the left-wing President of Venezuela, who has repeatedly accused the Bush Administration of plotting to overthrow him. After an outcry, Robertson apologized for his comments

    "I think only God can punish crimes of such magnitude." FIDEL CASTRO, President of Cuba, on Robertson's remarks

    "We owe them something. We will finish the task that they gave their lives for." PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, on American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, following protests by Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier slain in Iraq, and others who are urging an end to the war

    "In 1900, [American] women did not have the right to vote. If Iraqis could develop a democracy that resembled America in the 1900s, I think we'd all be thrilled. I mean, women's social rights are not critical to the evolution of democracy." REUEL MARC GERECHT, former Middle East specialist for the CIA, on the reported lack of protection for women in drafts of Iraq's new constitution

    "We are leaving against our will, but we are not going out with heads bowed." TZION TZION-TAWIL, rabbi, after helping lead a prayer service of settlers and soldiers in Netzarim, the last Jewish settlement in Gaza to be evacuated

    "It's not off limits, let's put it that way." MARTHA STEWART, telling reporters that she may discuss her recent legal troubles and prison term on her new daytime TV show

    "A hugely popular and extremely successful hip-hop music artist ... known for his good looks, 'gangsta' image and hard-knocks success story." 50 CENT, describing himself in a lawsuit

    Sources: AP; New York Times (2); NBC's Meet the Press; New York Times (2); AP