Where's Waldo?

Oops sorry. I meant where's Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr?

Radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is still in Iraq and has not left for Iran, several of his aides said on Wednesday, after American officials suggested he may have departed to avoid an offensive against militants.

The conflicting reports over the anti-American cleric's whereabouts came after Iraq said on Tuesday it would close its borders with Iran and Syria and lengthen a night curfew in Baghdad to try to curb unrelenting violence in the capital.

Four Sadr aides said he was still in Iraq, with some saying he was in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf but had reduced public appearances for "security reasons". They did not elaborate.

"He is now in Iraq," Nassar al-Rubaei, head of the Sadrist bloc in Iraq's parliament, said without giving further details.

Two U.S. officials in Washington spoke to Reuters about Sadr after the ABC News network reported he had fled to Iran because of fears he might be targeted by U.S. bombing raids and worries over his safety because of fracturing within his movement.

Speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, they said the U.S. military believed Sadr had left Iraq and was now in Iran.

It was a silly mistake really. Al-Sadr is not as thin as Waldo and always wears dark colors, usually black. Oh yeah, he has a beard too.


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