Al Sadr bolts to Iran

While members of the U.S. House of Representatives take turns weighing in on President Bush's planned troop surge in Iraq, the focus in Iraq is not on the arrival of more U.S. troops, but the departure of one of the country's most powerful men, Moqtada al Sadr and members of his army.

According to senior military officials, al Sadr left Baghdad two to three weeks ago and fled to Tehran, Iran, where he has family.

Al Sadr commands the Mahdi army, one of the most formidable insurgent militias in Iraq, and his move coincides with the announced U.S. troop surge in Baghdad.

Sources believe al Sadr is worried about an increase of 20,000 U.S. troops in the Iraqi capital. One official told ABC News' Martha Raddatz, "He is scared he will get a JDAM [bomb] dropped on his house."

Sources say some of the Mahdi army leadership went with al Sadr.

snip - continue reading at link above

Ah yes... bomb the house, and the cockroaches head for the neighbors' houses. Thus why I call tracking and hunting terrorists "the cockroach theory".

It is also a good reason to keep the pressure on other Middle East countries to climb aboard the WOT intel wagon. Oops... uh oh. We have to make sure they aren't ruled by terrorist regimes to do that. What a concept. Spread democracy and instigate regime change, trading despots for elected governments. All part of our own self-defense. Now where have I heard that before?


UPDATE 2-18-2007

Iran officials claim he ain't here!, and use the report of Al Sadr's notable absence from Iraq to accuse US military officials of stating such as "...part of the US psychological warfare against Iran...".

Referring to the US propaganda against Iran, he said, "US officials first announced that al-Sadr had escaped from Iraq then they said he had the intention of travelling to Iran but Tehran did not grant him visa.

Oh right... *no one* gets in or out of Iran without a visa.... Who the heck are they kidding?

What may be a more accurate report is Al Sadr is likely in Iran, but the country's head honchos either don't know where, and probably wouldn't tell us if they did.