BREAKING NEWS FROM CMN'S SNITUATION ROOM

THIS JUST IN

TO THE CMN (CABLE MUSE NETWORK) NEWS DESK

Now over to Wolf Schlitzer in Warshington...

Thanks Lou...

CMN has just learned that U.S. President George W. Bush will address the Nation and the world this week and announce that he's withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq and sending them to Iran.

Sources tell CMN the ongoing detainment of 15 British sailors is now being seen by the Bush administration as a politically convenient development that could allow him to finally remove troops from Iraq.

With every additional day the sailors are detained -- Bush has now called it a hostage-taking -- comparisons are being made to the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1980.

Analysts contacted by CMN say Bush, suffering at the polls as a result of his Iraq policy and almost every other of his policies, increasingly sees the Iran situation as the perfect excuse to invade.

Such an invasion would be billions of dollars cheaper because Iraq and 170,000 U.S. troops are right next door to Iran. Sources say the 170,000 troops would cross the border into Iran and be joined by 300,000 others.

Some pundits say such a move could be Bush's last-ditch attempt to try to rescue his presidency from the ravages of public opinion while at the same time boosting the Republican ticket for next year's presidential vote.


Others close to the scene in Washington say an invasion of Iran would also keep the massive military industrial complex humming along at high gear while also expanding the U.S. oil interests in both Iran and Iraq.

Bush supporters also apparently believe that Iran's suspected buildup of nuclear arms could be curtailed, although Democrats cite Bush's Weapons of Mass Destruction fiasco in the invasion of Iraq.

Plus, a successful invasion of Iran would put the U.S. in command of a country that is closer to Afghanistan, the suspected home of Al Quaeda and the domain of Osama Bin Laden, analysts suggest.

The Whitehouse refused to comment on the speculation.

They also refused to deny it was possible.

LATE-BREAKING UPDATE

The invasion of Iran has been averted -- for the time being -- after Iran agreed to release the 15 British sailors on Wednesday...