Why Didn’t I Think of That?

“Where money for projects has not been found, we will print it.”

President Robert Mugabe speaking to reporters about continuing a macroeconomic policy that has fueled Zimbabwe’s 9000% annual inflation rate.

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A Picnic in Srebrenica

“You’ll see a bloodletting in Baghdad that makes Srebrenica looks like a Sunday school picnic.”
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) describing the chaos that would ensue if the U.S. were to leave Iraq on February 4, 2007.

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If We Fail in Iraq?

“…it is likely there will be safe haven from which people will be able to launch attacks from America. It is likely there would be enormous clashes between radical Shia and radical Sunnis. It is likely that moderate governments could be toppled, in which case, people could get a hold of oil resources. You mix all that with an Iran with a nuclear weapon and we’re looking at a generation of Americans threatened. “

President George Bush talking to Jim Leherer on January 16, 2007 about what would happen if we fail in Iraq

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Maybe You Shouldn’t Have Gone Shopping the First Time

“I have been [to Iraq] five times. The first time I went there, we went rug shopping. The last time I went, we were in a tank.”

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), talking about the deteriorating security situation in Iraq on Meet the Press, January 7, 2007

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Tehran Study Abroad

“The problem that president Bush has is that in his mind he wants to solve everything with bombs…. The time of the bomb is in the past, it’s behind us. Today is the era of thoughts, dialogue and cultural exchanges.”

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, speaking to Mike Wallace on August 8, 2006

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Don’t Plug Him In

“[The president is] like a Black & Decker Cordless Dirt Devil vacuum. If you don’t recharge his batteries, he can’t suck.”

Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report

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Construction in DC

“These guys are headless nails. Once they get hammered in, nobody - certainly not a few ticked-off voters - are going to pry them out.“

Chris Matthews talking about the difficulty for voters to oust incumbants in Congress

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Venture Capital Meets Public Health

“The amount of money they have will not begin to touch the world’s problems. So high-risk, high-return probably suits their mind-set… and no one else will do it.”

Dr. Mary Moran commenting about the Gates Foundation strategy of funding uncertain research for high-impact vaccines against diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis

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Tubes. Get it?

“The list of ‘don’t get it’ is longer than the list of ‘get it.’ The big problem is not the ones who get it, it’s the folks who don’t…. do a google search for ‘tubes’ and ‘Internet’ and see what comes up.”

Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist at Google, speaking about who has knowledge and influence in Congress with regards to net neutrality

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Well, Son of Iraq:

“We built this monster with Iraq, and there was nothing there. This is the son of Iraq.”

High-ranking Pentagon general speaking about how weapons of mass destruction intelligence failures in Iraq affect foreign policy options with Iran

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Tears of a Foreign Policy Clown:

“It’s like a juggler. You have to keep all the balls going. Any one of them that is out of trajectory threatens all the others.”

Zbigniew Brzezinski about the U.S. the foreign policy challenge created by North Korean missile test