If Washington attacks Iraq on its own, the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, declared, it would be "a victory for the law of the strongest".
Four years later, Celtics Coach Red Auerbach openly invited other teams to come after his club after declaring it would be his final season on Boston's bench.
Senator John McCain of Arizona declared it would be a "terrific mistake" to "even reopen the issue," adding that the troops now in the field were "the very best".
Later in the week the company suspended Captain Schettino, withdrew legal support and declared it would be an "injured party" in the prosecution, a move that would allow it to seek damages in the case of a guilty verdict.
The new tenant of the villa where Oscar Pistorius shot dead Reeva Steenkamp has apologised over an online video in which he declared it would be turned into a party house where "hot girls can invite themselves".
When his next novel, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, drawing on his youth in wartime Italy, was published in 2004, he declared it would be his last: "Five is enough".
At the time I lamented that two Indian eateries a week were closing and declared it would be a national tragedy if this much-loved staple of the UK high street were to disappear.
When Corbyn agreed to a free vote on Syria, it displayed leadership weakness; yet when he was thinking of a whipped vote, opponents declared it would be a dictatorial outrage and break-up of the party.
Guinness was enthusiastic about the prospect of 3D printing, even declaring it would be a perfect fit for the Perspex lip-shaped purse her brand has become known for.
Instead he is reduced to crude soundbites – sometimes called "dog whistle politics" – desperately trying to persuade the electorate that he is a nationalist in matters of employment: for example in April he declared "it would be nice sometimes when you go into a British hotel if the receptionist was British".
