Yahoo! News - Bush Vows to Arrest Iraq Cleric to Quell Violence
CHARLOTTE, N.C./BAGHDAD (Reuters) - President Bush vowed to arrest a radical Shi'ite Muslim cleric leading spiraling anti-U.S. violence that has sparked fears of all-out war in Iraq.

"We just can't let (the violence) stand," Bush said on Monday as U.S. authorities branded Moqtada al-Sadr an outlaw and U.S. helicopters blasted a Baghdad district where the cleric has a stronghold and sent in tanks to quell the violence.

Sadr, backed by armed followers, had taken refuge in Iraq's holiest shrine, the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf, south of Baghdad, a Shi'ite religious source told Reuters. The source said nearby streets had been closed off by members of Sadr's banned militia.

"There's no way Sayyid Moqtada will turn himself in," said a Sadr supporter outside the group's office in the Baghdad slum district of Sadr City. "If the Americans try to arrest him, we will all explode," said the man, who gave his name as Haider.

We storm a mosque to arrest this guy and it will be like pouring gasoline on a fire. It will be open season on American troops. Watch the violence escalate.