Renowned author, linguistics professor and one of the leading dissident voices in the U.S., Noam Chomsky speaks at the University of the District of Columbia.

US occupation forces in Iraq have abandoned plans to hold a national congress to select an interim government.

Instead, the US will appoint a council of some 30 senior figures who will shadow the US administration to prepare for taking power.

Meanwhile resistance to the US occupation of Iraq intensifies.

In Baghdad, gunmen firing rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles attacked an American military convoy yesterday. At least one American soldier was wounded and one Iraqi civilian was killed in the firefight.

The assault followed a mortar attack on an American base on the outskirts on the capital. One soldier was slightly wounded.

According to the New York Times, it was the first mortar attack in Baghdad since the end of the war.

And in Basra, thousands of Iraqis poured into the streets to protest a new local governing council that was put in place by British occupation forces. The protestors denounced the setup as undemocratic.

Noam Chomsky, institute professor and professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology speaking at the University of the District of Columbia. He is the author of 9-11, Power and Terror and many other books.