Iraq: US troops head home
„I’m not happy at all. I’m worried. They’re leaving really early.“
Wissam Sabah, a carpet seller in Baghdad
„The Iraq war is not over and it is not won. (…) Iraq still faces a serious insurgency, and deep ethnic and sectarian tensions.“
Anthony Cordesman, Center for International and Strategic Studies
„If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the U.S. army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020.“
Lt. Gen. Babakir Zebari, chief of staff of the Iraqi Joint Forces
Mosque at Ground Zero
„As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. (…) That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan in accordance with local laws and ordinances.“
Barack Obama, US President
24hours later:
„I was not commenting, and I will not comment, on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right that people have that dates back to our founding. That’s what our country is about.“
Barack Obama, US President
„If we shout down a mosque and community center because it is two blocks away from the site where freedom was attacked, I think it would be a sad day for America“
Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City
„Ground zero is hallowed ground to Americans. Do you think the Muslims would allow a Jewish temple or Christian church to be built in Mecca?“
Elliott Maynard, Republican candidate, West Virginia
Flood in Pakistan
„I will never forget the destruction and sufferings I have witnessed today. In the past I have visited scenes of many nature disasters around the world, but nothing like this. The scale of this disaster is so large, so many people, in so many places, in so much need. Nearly one out of ten Pakistanis has been directly or indirectly affected. Possibly 20 million people, one-fifth of the country, is ravaged by floods.“
Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General UN
EU-Beitritt der Türkei
„Auch wenn es gelingt, die Beitrittsverhandlungen positiv abzuschließen, kann man davon ausgehen, dass das Referendum in einem der Länder scheitert.“
Franz Fischler, ehemaliger EU-Landwirtschaftskommissar (1999 bis 2004)