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Negotiations to ease the crisis in Fallujah produce a ceasefire that provides amnesty for insurgents who disarm and refrain from future attacks, but U.S. forces remain poised to strike the Iraqi city if the pact fails. Officials from Fallujah, U.S. authorities and the Iraqi Governing Council met over the past three days in an effort to end the standoff. NPR's Emily Harris reports.

Over several years in the 1990s, U.S. forces had an idea of Osama bin Laden's whereabouts but did not attack because of doubts about the accuracy of intelligence, according to testimony and documents gathered by the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks. Officials involved were also reportedly concerned about killing innocent bystanders. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly reports.

Former counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke's assertions that the Bush administration downplayed the threat presented by al Qaeda before Sept. 11, 2001, spark debate over national security. Critics of Clarke, who testified this week before the Sept. 11 panel in Washington, say he is merely promoting his book, Against All Enemies. Hear NPR's Liane Hansen and Dana Milbank of The Washington Post.

During a rare primetime news conference, President Bush pledges the United States will commit the time and forces needed to finish its work in Iraq. Bush reaffirmed plans to transfer governing power to Iraqis on June 30, saying a delay would foster suspicions of U.S. motives in the region. Hear NPR's Don Gonyea.

A day after the White House released a briefing document on the al Qaeda threat that President George Bush received a month before the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush says the brief lacked "actionable intelligence." Security experts say the paper leads them to question the Bush administration's judgment of the information. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly reports.

Members of the Sept. 11 panel think National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice's testimony this week will illuminate what went wrong with U.S. anti-terror policy before the attacks. Republicans hope Rice will rebut Richard Clarke's charges that the White House ignored the growing threat. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and NPR News Analyst Cokie Roberts.

Commissioners on the Sept. 11 panel call on the White House to declassify a presidential briefing dated Aug. 6, 2001. The document warned that Osama bin Laden was planning attacks inside the United States. In Thursday's testimony, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said that and other pre-Sept. 11 warnings were too vague to act on. Hear NPR's Pam Fessler.

The American Civil Liberties Union files a lawsuit challenging the federal "No-Fly" list of people barred from flying due to suspected terrorist ties. The plaintiffs in the suit are U.S. citizens who the ACLU says are wrongfully on the list, with no way to have their names removed. Those on the list are routinely stopped and searched during travel. NPR 's Larry Abramson reports.

As U.S.-led forces in Iraq confront a growing insurgency, they face an ominous new developmtent: hostage-taking. American Marines continue to battle for control of the town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad. In southern Iraq, Shiite fighters loyal to radical cleric Muqtada Sadr are said to be in full control of two towns and parts of another. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel and NPR's Philip Reeves.

As the United States reports the death of another soldier in Iraq, the head of a visiting U.N. delegation says security must improve if the country is to hold general elections by January. The U.S. military has accepted responsibility for the shooting deaths early this month of two Arabic television reporters, but insists the incident was an accident. Hear NPR's Ivan Watson.