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Now that the Iraqi regime has been toppled, the U.S. faces the task of rebuilding the country, physically and politically. NPR's Melissa Block talks about the challenges of administering a postwar country with Ambassador James Dobbins, the Bush administration's special envoy to Afghanistan, and a consultant for the United States in Kosovo, Bosnia, Haiti and Somalia.

U.S. Marines will begin enforcing a dusk-to-dawn curfew in eastern Baghdad starting Friday. It's an attempt to control widespread looting in a city lacking all signs of Saddam Hussein's authoritarian regime. Hear NPR's Anne Garrels.

Tribes are an integral part of the social and political fabric in Iraq. Saddam Hussein courted the sheikhs of the major tribes, and gained support. Will the American interim government be able to do the same? NPR's Jacki Northam has a report.

Two Shia clerics, one returning from exile and the other a Saddam loyalist, are hacked to death in the holiest mosque in Najaf. Observers fear the deaths could be the first round of bloodletting among rival Shia groups jockeying for power in post-Saddam Iraq. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

Special forces have been playing a low-key but important part in the war in Iraq. Perhaps the most notable special forces operation was the rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi hospital. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Michael Vickers to learn more about special ops. Vickers is director of Strategic Studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. He is a former Special Forces Capt. and CIA operations officer.

NPR's Eric Westervelt is at the Parade Grounds in Baghdad with units of the 3rd Infantry Division. They're securing and consolidating their hold on Baghdad. Resistance today was moderate. Nonetheless, one officer says this is the longest and most tense warfare the U.S. Army has seen since Vietnam.

U.S. officials say Saddam Hussein's regime appears to have lost hold of Baghdad, but caution there may be additional fighting ahead. From Qatar, U.S. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks says the situation in Iraq has reached a "tipping point" and that the population is beginning to recognize the Iraqi regime is "coming to an end." Hear NPR's Nick Spicer.

Kurdish fighters and U.S. Special Forces take control of a key mountaintop overlooking the Iraqi-held city of Mosul, a senior Kurdish official says. He says it is the most important gain in the region thus far, and has opened the way for troops to enter Mosul. Hear NPR's Ivan Watson.

Chicago-based alternative country label Bloodshot Records began with a modest ambition: to make good music and maybe sell a few albums along the way. Bloodshot has been issuing recordings since 1994. They recently reached a milestone -- their 100th release. To celebrate, they've compiled a collection of singles and rare recordings titled Making Singles, Drinking Doubles. Meredith Ochs has a review.

U.S. officials say Saddam Hussein's regime appears to have lost hold of Baghdad. Security forces desert the streets, replaced by looters, and government officials have disappeared, though some fighting continues. From Qatar, U.S. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks says the regime "is in disarray and much of Iraq is free from years of oppression." Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden.