Search results for

Journalist Thomas Ricks covers the military for The Washington Post. Last week the Senate held hearings about Iraq. Ricks will discuss possible scenarios for a U.S. attempt to topple Saddam Hussein, and the likelihood of such an action. Ricks has also reported on U.S. military activities in Somalia, Haiti, Korea, Kuwait, the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan. Prior to joining The Post, Ricks wrote about the military for The Wall Street Journal. He's also the author of the novel A Soldier's Duty, about a U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan.

Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq, visits the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in his first official visit outside of Baghdad since arriving in the country last week. Bremer denies reports that the United States plans to postpone the formation of an interim Iraqi government, but does not give a firm date for its creation. Hear NPR's Guy Raz.

Russian, French and German leaders wind up two days of meetings held to discuss postwar Iraq, and reassert their demands for a leading U.N. role in postwar affairs. But the chief opponents of the U.S.-led war cautiously welcome the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. NPR's Lawrence Sheets reports.

President Bush underscores tax day by renewing his call for another round of tax cuts. Bush wanted $726 billion more in cuts, but the Republican-controlled Congress set the target lower. A poll by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government indicates Americans don't see a need for more tax relief. NPR's David Welna reports.

President Bush names former ambassador Paul Bremer as the new head of the transition team in Iraq. Bremer takes over for retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, who has been leading the post-war reconstruction effort so far. Observers say the appointment is aimed at downplaying the impression that Iraq is under U.S. military occupation. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

Fifty years ago this week, a paper in the British science journal Nature described the structure of DNA. This discovery kicked off a revolution in biology that brought with it fear as well as excitement. The ability to tinker with genes raised the specter of monster organisms that might threaten the world. As NPR's Joe Palca reports, back then it was scientists who took the lead in resolving such issues, but today it may not be researchers who get to choose how controversial science progresses.

The University of California at Berkeley announces that students from several Asian countries won't be allowed to attend summer school. School officials are concerned that they have no facilities to quarantine students who may contract severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. Fears about the spread of SARS are also affecting business in San Francisco's Chinatown. Deirdre Kennedy of member station KQED reports.

Paul Bremer, the new U.S. civilian administrator for Iraq, arrives in Bagdhad as part of a broad shake-up in the U.S. reconstruction team. Moving out of the country are four top U.S. administrators amid charges that the team has been too slow restoring basic services and has failed to ensure security. NPR's Guy Raz reports.

U.N. Security Council members have mixed reactions to a resolution on postwar Iraq proposed by the United States and co-sponsored by Britain and Spain. Council members generally agree on ending sanctions on Iraq, but Germany and Russia raise questions over provisions that would give the United States and its allies substantial control over Iraq's oil revenues. NPR's Vicky O' Hara reports.

Prime Minister Tony Blair wins a plea to Britain's Parliament to support a British attack on Iraq without U.N. authorization. Blair didn't need Parliament's consent to send troops into battle, but it's the biggest political gamble of his career. Opposition is strong in his own party and across Britain. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.