Horse pucky. The Intifada (phase 2 I might add) was planned and ready to go way before he went to the Jewish holy site. Yes it's a Moslem holy site too, but when the Moslems, ie. the Jordanians, controlled access to it, Jews were not allowed, once the Israelies took over access they allowed people of all faiths to have access to the Temple Mount. He had every right to visit a holy place of his religion, esepcially in light of the fact that he wasn't denying Moslems access to their part of it. Even after the Jews once again had access to the Wailing Wall, it was common for the Islamists on the top of the mount to pelt worshipers with rocks, and not just little ones either.
Why should Sharon, or any other foreign leader, need permission of the US to move their forces within their own country?
That sucks!