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The United Nations wants to dissolve the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council in favor of a transitional government chosen by the U.N. Hear NPR's Scott Simon, Iraqi-American lawyer Faisal Istrabadi -- who helped draft Iraq's interim constitution -- and Hamid Dabashi, chairman of Columbia University's Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures.

The White House, bowing to pressure from both Republicans and Democrats, agrees to allow National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to testify -- in public, and under oath -- before a commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks. The decision follows former anti-terror expert Richard Clarke's statements criticizing the Bush administration. Hear NPR's Pam Fessler, NPR's Melissa Block and NPR's Don Gonyea.

U.S. forces surrounding Fallujah loosen the perimeter they've established to allow injured residents to get hospital treatment without evacuating the besieged city. Meanwhile, U.S. military and administrative officials hold a second day of talks with representatives of the insurgents who control the city. Elsewhere in Iraq, two Japanese hostages are freed. Hear NPR's Scott Simon and NPR's Emily Harris.

President Bush will briefly address the nation on the subject of Iraq Tuesday night before taking questions from White House reporters. The bulk of the questions are expected to deal with stiffening resistance to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq and intelligence reports on terrorist activity prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Hear NPR's Don Gonyea and NPR's Melissa Block.

In Khorea, a mixed Sunni-Shiite slum in Baghdad, residents struggle to cope with the recent upsurge in violence in Iraq. The U.S. siege of Fallujah, a Sunni stronghold west of Baghdad, is producing a powerful backlash, uniting Sunnis and Shiites against the American occupation. NPR's Anne Garrel's reports.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says about 20,000 U.S. troops will stay in Iraq three months longer than had been expected. The Pentagon says the soldiers -- a quarter of whom serve in National Guard and military reserve units -- are needed to cope with renewed fighting in Iraq. The troops had been told they would return home this month, part of a Pentagon promise that Iraq duty would be for 12 months only. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.

NPR's Cheryl Corley talks to Randy Cohen, who writes The Ethicist column for The New York Times Magazine, about the dilemma of Laura Meigs. She's a first-year teacher in rural Mississippi. Her instinct is to correct her students' incorrect grammar and keep them from using racial epithets she finds offensive, but she's heard criticism that in doing so, she may be demeaning their culture.

American occupation authorities close two major highways in Iraq in an effort to keep U.S. supply lines open. Persistent attacks by insurgents have damaged the routes and food is running low at administrative headquarters in Baghdad. NPR's Emily Harris reports.

NPR's Bob Edwards talks with Walter Slocombe about reconstruction efforts and the state of security in Iraq. Slocombe is former Senior Advisor for Defense and Security Affairs Sector to the Coalition Provisional Authority for Iraq.

Cole is an authority on modern Islamic movements. He is professor of modern Middle East and South Asia history at the University of Michigan. His most recent book is Sacred Space and Holy War: The Politics, Culture and History of Shi`ite Islam. The book collects some of his work on the history of the Shiite branch of Islam in modern Iraq, Iran and the Persian Gulf region.