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The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry, has named a search committee to vet his short list of potential running mates. But choosing a vice presidential candidate isn't easy, and history is full of selections that didn't turn out the way the top of the ticket intended. Hear NPR's Mara Liasson.

In the second part of Morning Edition's series on Latin American cities, NPR's Gerry Hadden reports on the dark political climate of Guatemala City. The capital city, like Guatemala itself, has been scarred by decades of bloodshed, coups, and authoritarian governments.

NPR's Claudio Sanchez examines the little-known school desegregation case of Mendez v. Westminster. This California case won access for Mexican Americans to white schools in 1947 and helped set the stage seven years later for Brown v. Board of Education.

In testimony before the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, top officials from both the Clinton and Bush administrations defend their policies on the terrorist threat. The commission finds efforts against al Qaeda were hampered by a lack of intelligence, failed diplomatic overtures toward the Taliban and competing demands. Hear NPR's Pam Fessler.

Former counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke tells the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks that the Bush administration ignored his proposals to take aggressive action against al Qaeda in the months before the attacks. The White House denies Clarke's charges, and says it was developing its own anti-terrorism strategy at the time of the attacks. Hear NPR's Pam Fessler.

The Food and Drug Administration says patients on some popular antidepressants should be closely monitored for warning signs of suicide. The agency asked the makers of 10 drugs to add the caution to their product labels. In changing its requirement, the FDA stressed that it is not yet clear that the drugs actually lead to suicide. NPR's Richard Knox reports.

Critic Tom Manoff has discovered 17th-century Italy and the music of Anno 1630. In the project, three musicians take the music of little-known composers from the early Renaissance period and perform it, using an ancient newly refurbished organ, harp and violin. The CD Anno 1630 is on the Winter and Winter label.

Richard Clarke, who served as the top White House counter-terrorism official under three presidents, says George W. Bush's administration did not consider terrorist threats to be urgent in its first seven months, despite Clarke's urgings. Speaking on Capitol Hill to a national commission investigating U.S. policies before Sept. 11, 2001, Clark said terrorism was given extraordinarily high priority in the Clinton administration. Also Wednesday, CIA Director George Tenet told the panel that terrorist intelligence was not properly integrated among different agencies. NPR's Pam Fessler reports.

Secretary of State Colin Powell is among the senior officials set to testify at public hearings on the Sept. 11 attacks Tuesday. The White House has called false the claims made by former terrorism official Richard Clarke that the Bush administration focused on Iraq rather than al Qaeda after the terrorist attacks of 2001. Hear NPR's Pam Fessler and NPR's Mary Louise Kelly.

Bombings at Shiite Muslim shrines in Baghdad and Karbala have led to increased demands for Shiite militiamen to be given authorization to help maintain security in Shiite areas. Officials of the U.S. occupation authority remain opposed to the idea. NPR's Ivan Watson reports.