21.   The Pentagon official offered a similar assessment.

22.   A similar assessment came from Danny Naveh, the Israeli Cabinet secretary.

23.   Aid groups and journalists who visited the region have offered similar assessments.

24.   Arafat reportedly made a similar assessment of the Jordan-Israel swap during a closed meeting of the Palestinian legislative council earlier this week where the deal was discussed.

25.   He cited the review that the Bush administration is conducting into its Iraq policy, and similar assessments being undertaken by other key governments about sanctions.

26.   Many high-level European and U.S. officials have traveled to Ukraine recently for similar assessment visits in the run-up to the elections.

27.   Similar assessments have been used to justify U.S. plans for multibillion-dollar missile defense systems capable of shooting down a limited ICBM attack on the continental United States.

28.   The Economic Planning Agency, in its closely watched monthly report released last week, issued an assessment similar to that of the Bank of Japan.

29.   The figure is more than double that of those considered in danger after a similar assessment done in September and October.

30.   The Lebanese information minister, Ghazi Aridi, had a similar assessment.