Great. Now Bush will be dancing about

Going: We kin bomb Iran now, huh!? Now? Cheney says so! Let's go git 'em! I wanna use a nuke! Feels good! Bring it on!

BAGHDAD, Feb. 14 -- U.S. officials believe that Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the fiercely anti-American leader of the Mahdi Army militia, has traveled to Iran, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV told reporters at a briefing Wednesday.

Caldwell, however, declined to say how significant that development could be in U.S. efforts to restore order to Iraq or whether officials think Sadr left in anticipation of the increased security measures being planned for Baghdad by U.S. and Iraqi forces. The Mahdi Army has been blamed for much of the sectarian violence against Sunni Muslim Arab residents in Iraq, who have been targeted in retaliation for attacks on Shiite civilians by Sunni insurgents.

Allies of Sadr, who controls a block of seats in the parliament aligned with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, denied that he has left the country and said he met with government officials as recently as Tuesday night.

We know he's in Iran because our intelligence on the ground is soooooo good. Right. It has nothing to do with al-Maliki's connection to Sadr and the need for al-Maliki to look tough without actually doing anything. Right.

Update: Bush insists he is not planning on a war with Iran. (His excuse will be it just sorta happened....)

President Bush said today he has no doubt that Iran has supplied weapons used against U.S. forces in Iraq, but he stressed that he does not know whether the top leadership in Iran ordered the activity, and he denied that he is using the issue as a "pretext" for war against Iran.

In his first news conference of the new year, Bush also sought to walk a fine line on a House resolution that expresses disapproval of his plan to augment U.S. forces in Iraq. He said the Democratic resolution, which is scheduled to come to a vote Friday after three days of debate, prejudges a Baghdad security plan that the troop surge is aimed at bolstering. But he stopped short of the harsher criticism leveled by fellow Republicans, and he said the key issue is the continuation of congressional funding for U.S. troops deployed in Iraq.