Verbatim

“The most appropriate word is ‘screwup.'”
Jakrapob Penkair, spokesman for Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, blaming bureaucratic incompetence for the government’s slow response to avian flu

“There’s somebody stabbed in business class and we can’t breathe. Somebody’s got Mace or something … I think we’re getting hijacked.”
Betty Ong, flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11, in an audiotape heard last week by the 9/11 Commission

“We’re sure we’re going to catch Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar this year.”
Bryan Hilferty, U.S. military spokesman, making a bold prediction, as the Army readies a spring offensive in search of the two men

“We were almost all wrong.”
David Kay, chief U.S. weapons inspector, on intelligence gathered prior to the Iraq war claiming that the country had weapons of mass destruction

“I have been brought up to believe that you cannot choose your own referee, and that the referee’s decision is final.”
Gavyn Davies, BBC board chairman, who resigned after the Hutton inquiry criticized the BBC for reporting that the Blair government “sexed up” intelligence on Iraqi weaponry

“I’m remorseful because Muslims became victims. The ones who I targeted were Americans. Now I have to be accountable.”
Mohammed Rais, suspected Islamic militant, on trial for his alleged involvement in last August’s bombing at Jakarta’s JW Marriott hotel. Eleven of the 12 who died were Indonesian

“I find it a bit sad that there is no photo of me hanging on the walls in the Berlin Museum.”
David Hasselhoff, star of American TV hit Baywatch and singer, disappointed that his name has no place among museum memorabilia despite his live performance on top of the Berlin Wall on New Year’s Eve, 1989