Verbatim: Apr. 17, 2006

“I’m constantly looking back to see if things could be done differently or better.” PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, acknowledging that the U.S. has made mistakes in Iraq and citing the abuse of inmates at Abu Ghraib prison, which “hurt us in the international area, especially in the Muslim world”

“My eyes caught on a man on the 100th floor … I was watching the man throwing himself out. I watched him go all the way down and hit.” RUDOLPH GIULIANI, former New York City mayor, testifying at Zacarias Moussaoui’s sentencing trial, on his memories of the World Trade Center attack on Sept. 11, 2001

“That cargo container could have been filled with anything from a dirty bomb to a cell of terrorists.” PATTY MURRAY, Democratic Senator from Washington, calling for improvements in security after 22 Chinese stowaways were found in a cargo container at Seattle’s port

“Do we know whether this is perfect or not? No, because it’s never been done before.” SALVATORE DIMASI, speaker of the Massachusetts House, on the new universal health-care plan passed last week, which mandates medical insurance for all state residents and provides the poorest with no-premium, no-deductible coverage

“If you were not protected by God, you would be afraid of a gecko.” SADDAM HUSSEIN, former Iraqi dictator, answering prosecutors’ questions for the first time in his war-crimes trial

“I don’t want [my daughters] to be empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones; I’d rather they were independent, interesting … a thousand things before ‘thin.'” J.K. ROWLING, Harry Potter author and mother of three, writing in her online diary about the fashion industry’s promotion of skinny celebrities as role models for young girls

“I don’t think I’ve ever been accused of seducing anyone, including my wife.” STEPHEN HARPER, Canadian Prime Minister, responding to a claim that he “seduced” former Liberal M.P. David Emerson to switch to Harper’s Conservative Party

Sources: White House; Bloomberg; Los Angeles Times; the Daily Item; Washington Post; the Daily Telegraph; Calgary Sun