1.   He inherits a country with few friends in the international financial community, bitter political opposition, and mounting problems with drugs and street crime.

2.   I also want these children to inherit a country that is far safer than it is a present.

3.   Its young leader, Dr. Bashar Assad, also unexpectedly inherited a country from his father and promised to transform it.

4.   Lenin inherited a country that was falling apart, but when he passed away he left it with a strong ruble and a new economic policy.

5.   Whoever wins the four-year presidency inherits a country awash in political violence by left-wing and right-wing armed groups that kill thousands annually.

6.   Clinton says Bush inherits a country in great shape.

7.   He inherits a country where crime, judicial ineptness, military impunity and poverty have become endemic.

8.   He would inherit a country in which paramilitary forces still muster support and criminals are common.

9.   Inheriting a country beset by food shortages and triple-digit inflation, he made fiscal concerns his top priority.

10.   Kabila inherited a country in ruins, yet promised democratic elections within two years, Mandela said.