Fall from grace. (Trade Talk).

The U.S. government is getting heat for leading a censure vote that booted Brazilian Jose Mauricio Bustani from the helm of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The U.S. government claims Bustani was not effective. But critics say the Bush administration opposed Bustani's efforts to bring Iraq into the organization.

"Brazil always expressed confidence in Ambassador Bustani."

--spokesman for Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Reuters)

"It was not our wish to have a messy, ugly public battle over this."

--Bush administration official (Washington Post)

"The United States wanted Iraq declared an axis of evil or enemy of humanity to justify an eventual invasion."

--political science professor David Fleicher, Universidade de Brasilia (Estado de S.Paulo)

"It was a decision taken in a multinational forum by a group of countries, It has nothing to do with bilateral relations."

--Donna Hrinak, new U.S. ambassador to Brazil (Orlando Sentinel)

"Thanks to Bustani's actions, the OPCW transformed itself into an independent and authoritative international organ that became one of the most important mechanisms of control over weapons and disarmament."

--Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko (AP)

"I clearly made some people in Washington uncomfortable ... They want somebody more obedient."

--former OPCW Director General Jose Mauricio Bustani (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

"The United States is pleased with the decision."

--Eliza Koch, U.S. State Department (Reuters)