“This pales in comparison to the real insurgency, which comes from the Iraqis themselves.”

– Saudi Arabian security adviser Nawaf al-Obeid, predicting that the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi will make a psychological impact in Iraq but it won’t alter the conflict on the ground.

“How fair is it for a 75-year-old retired person who built their home by hand to have to pay $800 a month to live in their home?”

– Marina owner Greg Delevan, president of the Coeur d’Alene Lakeshore Property Owners Association, reacting to soaring valuations for lakefront property in North Idaho.

“By the way, how do we know their husbands weren’t planning to divorce these harpies? Now that their shelf life is dwindling, they’d better hurry up and appear in Playboy.”

– Conservative columnist and author Ann Coulter, claiming in her new book that four 9/11 widows who pressed for creation of a commission to investigate the attacks enjoyed their husbands’ deaths and the celebrity that followed.

“Most Americans are not conservative activists. They don’t live to fight these battles.”

– Matt Daniels, president of the Alliance for Marriage and author of the Marriage Protection Amendment, which failed last week in Congress, saying President Bush’s tempered support of the measure disappointed its backers.

“If you’re not insured, you’re not in anybody’s database. If you’re not in a database, you kind of become invisible.”

– Ann Christian, CEO of the Washington Community Mental Health Council, describing the difficulty of tracking modest-income people who lost access to mental health care as a result of federal budget cuts.

“Hail, hail, the dark side didn’t win this time.”

– Spokane’s Judith Gilmore, a member of the executive committee of Washington Won’t Discriminate, an organization that was prepared to defend the state’s new gay rights law against Referendum 65, which failed to qualify for the ballot.

“You cannot raise the sword of ultimatum, you cannot raise the issue of a referendum while you are talking about dialogue.”

– Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, criticizing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ plan for a referendum to recognize Israel despite the opposition of the Palestinian government controlled by Hamas.

“It’s a very good thing to take an operational pause and talk about what we do and what we do not do in combat.”

– Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, talking about the value of ethics discussions with American service personnel in the wake of allegations that U.S. Marines committed atrocities against Iraqi civilians in Haditha.

“He didn’t turn himself in out of remorse. He turned himself in because he had no place to go.”

– Deputy Police Chief Tim Foley, of Indianapolis, after authorities applied intense pressure on friends and acquaintances of Desmond Turner, suspected of slaying seven members of one family.

“This bill has nothing to do with the average American. It is about the wealthiest people in America flexing their muscles and pushing through on Capitol Hill the most outrageous piece of special interest legislation in modern memory.”

– U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., criticizing a Republican-led attempt to repeal the federal estate tax.