This Week They Said

We give you two options: withdraw your forces from our country and go home or we will burn them alive and feed them to the fighters…

We give you two options: withdraw your forces from our country and go home or we will burn them alive and feed them to the fighters.- Saraya al-Mojahedin, a new Iraqi terror group, threatens to execute three Japanese hostages unless Tokyo pulls out of the US-led coalition

There was no silver bullet that could have prevented the 9-11 attacks.

- US National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, testifies in public to the September 11 Commission

I'm accused of evil. If that means breaking the law of the American tyranny and its filthy constitution, I'm proud of that and that is why I'm in revolt.

READ MORE

- Moqtada al-Sadr, the Shia cleric who threatens to undermine the handover of power in Iraq

This is like Hue city in Vietnam.

- Lieut Col Brennan Byrne of the US marines who compared Fallujah to the Vietnam city that became a byword for lethal street fighting

It will take eternity for the detestable and guilty indifference of the international community to be forgotten.

- Louis Michel, Belgium's foreign minister, on the 10th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda

What I am very sure of is that I met Mr Gilmartin, perfunctory as it was. I am very sure it was Padraig Flynn who made the introduction. I am very sure it was on the ministerial corridor, and I am very sure about who was there when I was there.

- The former Fianna Fáil minister Mary O'Rourke tells the Mahon tribunal she remembers a meeting between property developer Tom Gilmartin and members of the cabinet at Leinster House in 1989. Her testimony appears to clash with that of other ministers, who say they do not recall the meeting or that it did not take place

America's such a fascinating monster that we all think that it's just too grotesque to imagine waking up to every single day.

- The pop singer Morrissey on living in California

Those who borrow to the hilt and struggle to pay back large mortgages are being ripped off.

- P.J. Drudy, a Trinity College economics professor, says almost half of those living in Dublin will soon be unable to afford to buy a house there

It's the sort of thing that happens when you are doing intensive testing.

- A Luas spokesman says the public should not be worried after a train derailed during tests this week

If you can go the length and breadth of the country without seeing a garda, it makes a farce of road safety strategy.

- AA spokesman Conor Faughnan

I think we could be a bit more decisive. We could take stands on issues that are unpopular. I think we need to mean something.

- Fine Gael TD John Deasy says the party must overcome its inertia. He lost his frontbench job last week after breaking the smoking ban in Leinster House

One wonders if it makes any sense if a couple who do not go to Mass expect a Mass on the occasion of their wedding.

- The Bishop of Kerry, Dr Bill Murphy, says it is unreasonable for non-churchgoers to seek church weddings

The increasing use of guns is posing a very real threat to the future of the unarmed Garda force.

- The Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, on the rise of a criminal gun culture in Ireland

No matter how important sport is to us, nothing is worth the loss of vision.

- Kilkenny GP Ronan Fawsitt urges the GAA to make it mandatory for hurlers to wear protective helmets

Barbara, my wife, says: "One way or another, this will be your final jump." I say: "Phrase it a little differently, will you?"

- Former US president George Bush snr plans to arrive at his 80th birthday party by parachute