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A staff report from the Sept. 11 commission says the Pentagon's air-defense command wasted precious time and missed a chance to intercept at least one of the hijacked planes used in the 2001 attacks. The report largely blames inadequate emergency procedures that didn't account for a response to suicide hijackings. Hear NPR's Mary Louise Kelly and NPR's Steve Inskeep.

The Supreme Court dismisses on a technicality a lawsuit seeking to drop the phrase "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, sidestepping the issue of whether the phrase violates the separation of church and state. The ruling relieved both conservatives and civil liberties groups. Both sides of the debate feared that a win would have triggered a divisive fight to amend the Constitution. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports.

The United States and Britain circulate a revised draft U.N. resolution on Iraq that gives the new Iraqi government complete control over its own security forces, and sets an approximate timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces. Meanwhile, the interim Iraqi government named Tuesday begins setting its governing priorities, but some question how truly independent it will be from U.S. authorities. Hear NPR's Emily Harris.

President Bush addresses the graduating class at the United States Air Force Academy, telling them the war on terror is the modern equivalent of World War II or the struggle against Communism. The speech in Colorado Springs, Colo., also made it clear that the president considers the fighting in Iraq to be the central front in the war on terror. NPR's White House Correspondent Don Gonyea reports.

In a speech Monday night, President Bush outlined a series of steps aimed at creating conditions for democratic self-rule in Iraq, including asking the United Nations for more international support. Bush also promised to destroy the Abu Ghraib prison with Iraqi consent. Critics say Bush's plan amounts to a rationale, not a strategy. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

Former New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso says he'll fight an effort to make him return much of his controversial $188 million pay package. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed suit Monday against Grasso, a board member and the exchange, demanding that Grasso return about $100 million of the $140 million he's received to date. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

Ahmed Chalabi, a member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, rejects allegations that an aide supplied Iran with sensitive information and responds to an Iraqi police raid on his home and offices in Baghdad. The Bush administration is terminating a monthly payment of $335,000 it had been making to Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress. Chalabi speaks with NPR's Scott Simon.

Family, friends and U.S. and foreign dignitaries pay homage to President Ronald Reagan at a memorial service at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The 40th president will be buried Friday night at the Reagan presidential library in California. Former President George H.W. Bush spoke emotionally of his predecessor's warmth and humanity. President George W. Bush, who has used Reagan as a political model, lauded his economic and defense policies. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel.

President Bush appeals to U.S. allies to help Iraq's transitional government establish a democracy. Bush, whose requests for NATO involvement in Iraq have been rebuffed by French and German leaders, said at the close of the Group of Eight summit that U.S. allies could send troops to help train Iraqi security forces. Hear NPR's Michele Norris and NPR's Don Gonyea.

Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite Iraqi cleric whose militia has clashed with American forces for the past several months, announces plans to create a political party. Members of Iraq's new interim government are encouraging Sadr's proposed move into the official political process. Hear NPR's Deborah Amos.