Despite the efforts of some of the senators, each new panel of witnesses simply adds to the fog of misunderstanding.

Among the big questions that need to be answered is ...

According to Bob Woodward's new book, Mr. Rumsfeld spent meetings asking questions rather than taking positions.

What would firing Mr. Rumsfeld achieve?

"It is easy to catalogue problems, more difficult to provide solutions." This point is not only absolutely true, but lies at the heart of intelligence.

In a world in which opinions are commonplace, there is a rare value in withholding opinions.

The United States' invasion of Iraq was not a great idea. Its only virtue was that it was the best available idea among a series of even worse ideas.

The essential point is that the invasion of Iraq was not and never should have been thought of as an end in itself.

[Since I am not] an ideologue, the nature of the Iraqi government -- or chaos -- does not affect me.

What does affect me is al Qaeda. Al Qaeda is trying to kill me.

The key to al Qaeda is in Riyadh and in Islamabad.

Rare is the book that causes one to consider -- ponder? appraise? examine? inspect? contemplate? -- one's every word.

A scientist shortage? Again? The gloomy warnings are back.

A crisis is in the making, says a report.

Overall, a grim picture -- of questionable validity.

In subjects ranging from Africa to terrorism, world history textbooks provide unreliable, often scanty information and provide poorly constructed activities. Publishers could and should be providing high school teachers and students with cheaper, smaller, more legible volumes, stripping trivia and superfluity from current volumes.

Over the past few days, the language used to describe the Supreme Court's decision to strike down segregated public education has been inspiring. Nevertheless, when I learned that my son's school intended to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that Supreme Court decision this spring, I felt somehow less inspired. The problem was not the principle, but the context.

I hope most American children are given more context, and I'm sure that many are. But if they aren't, that won't be surprising. The larger problem in many schools is an apolitical one: Nowadays, history is too often drained of any meaning, left- or right-wing, whatsoever.

A recent review of grade school textbooks found a huge variety of staggering flaws, from phony attempts at relevance, such as comparisons of Odysseus to Indiana Jones, to bad writing and design. Proliferating cartoons, sidebars and trivia drown out the main narrative.

You probably missed the news because it didn't get much play, but a small, crude weapon of mass destruction may have been used by Saddam's terrorists in Iraq this week.

"It doesn't strike me as a big deal," said David Kay.

Tests on an artillery shell that blew up in Iraq on Saturday confirm that it did contain an estimated three or four liters of the deadly nerve agent sarin.

Another shell filled with mustard gas, possibly also part of an IED was discovered on May 2.