鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 the best use of our technology. The hype got way ahead of the capabilities.鈥�
Bernard Bailey of Viisage, admitting his company鈥檚 face-recognition technology should not have been installed at US airports to catch terrorists (The Boston Globe, 30 August)
鈥淚t is clear the US authorities did little or nothing to pre-empt the events of 9/11鈥� at least 11 countries provided advance warning.鈥�
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Former UK environment minister Michael Meacher suggesting the Bush administration allowed the attacks to happen in order to justify invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq (The Guardian, London, 6 September)
鈥淢onstrously offensive.鈥�
Response to Meacher鈥檚 allegations by the US government (The Sunday Times, London, 7 September)
鈥淭he United States has a 19th-century railroad system.鈥�
Richard Silver, executive director of the Rail Passenger Association of California, on plans for Japanese bullet trains to link San Francisco and San Diego (San Francisco Chronicle, 7 September)
鈥淲hy should any ecstasy user believe scientists after this?鈥�
Jon Cole of The University of Liverpool, UK, after a US team retracted a study linking the drug with Parkinson鈥檚 disease (The Independent on Sunday, 7 September)
鈥淭he [US] grid has grown so complex no one understands it. That makes it perfect for congressional hearings.鈥�
Science and technology commentator, Robert Park (What鈥檚 New online newsletter, 5 September)