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U.S. troops continue house-to-house searches for remnants of the Saddam Hussein regime or other Iraqis who may be planning attacks on U.S.-led forces. Operation Ivy Serpent is the fourth such sweep. NPR's Guy Raz, embedded with U.S. soldiers, reports from Tikrit.

After a spate of high profile baby-abandonment cases in the late 1990s, many states enacted laws designed to protect abandoned infants. The "safe haven" laws allow women to leave their newborns at designated safe places, such as hospitals or firehouses, without the threat of prosecution. But some adoption advocates say the laws are creating problems. Hear NPR's Madeleine Brand.

In debate in the Senate and House, congressional Democrats criticize the Bush administration's use of intelligence to justify going to war with Iraq. The renewed criticism follows an admission by the White House that President Bush, in his State of the Union address, incorrectly claimed that Iraq had tried to purchase uranium for nuclear weapons. Hear NPR's David Welna.

Pointing to rising casualties and daily attacks in Iraq, congressional Democrats accuse the Bush administration of failing to deploy enough U.S. troops or adequately plan for reconstruction efforts. Republican Sen. John McCain (AZ) joins the calls for more "straight talk" from the White House on the challenges ahead. Hear NPR's David Welna.

CIA Director George Tenet faces tough questioning from the Senate Intelligence Committee over the Bush administration's use of intelligence to justify going to war in Iraq. Last Friday, Tenet took responsibility for an erroneous claim in President Bush's State of the Union address that Iraq had tried to purchase uranium from Africa. Hear NPR's David Welna.

U.S. troops test materials believed to be chemical agents found inside 55-gallon drums near Basra. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says first reports of chemical weapons often are incorrect. NPR's Melissa Block talks with Washington Post reporter Rick Atkinson, traveling with the unit that found the material.

All Things Considered guest host John Ydstie talks to NPR's Anne Garrels about the situation inside Baghdad, where electricity and phone service are cut off. Garrels reports that her movements are very limited because of a curfew, but she can hear explosions, shelling and missiles in the western part of the city, closest to Baghdad Airport.

The nightmare of urban warfare comes true as U.S. forces battle pockets of resistance in Baghdad. An American armored column invades a presidential palace, daylight hours are filled with sounds of bombs, artillery and automatic gunfire which quiet toward night. Electricity and phones are out. NPR's Anne Garrels reports.

Baghdad looters continue to comb through official buildings and empty a museum of priceless antiquities. U.S. forces decline to adopt much of a security role, but may begin to patrol with Iraqis who are demanding order be restored. In some neighborhoods, people take the law into their own hands. Hear NPR's John Ydstie and NPR's Anne Garrels.

In Baghdad, security forces desert the streets, replaced by looters, and government officials have disappeared. Hundreds of Iraqi civilians take to the streets, cheering U.S. soldiers and ripping up posters of Saddam Hussein. And with the help of a U.S. Marine vehicle, a crowd of Iraqi citizens topples a giant statue of the Iraqi leader. Hear NPR's Anne Garrels.