Login Sidebar Script Screws Up IE Commenting

I have this login script – works fine in Opera and Firefox but screws up IE when I do a general comment (no authentication necessary.) Here’s The code:

<li>
<?php global $user_ID, $user_identity, $user_level ?>

<?php if ( $user_ID ) : ?>
<h2>Control panel</h2>
<ul>
<li>Identified as <strong><?php echo $user_identity ?></strong>.

<li><a href="<?php bloginfo('url') ?>/wp-admin/">Dashboard</a></li>

<?php if ( $user_level >= 1 ) : ?>
<li><a href="<?php bloginfo('url') ?>/wp-admin/post-new.php">Write an article</a></li>
<?php endif // $user_level >= 1 ?>

<li><a href="<?php bloginfo('url') ?>/wp-admin/profile.php">Profile and personal options</a></li>
<li><a href="<?php bloginfo('url') ?>/wp-login.php?action=logout&amp;redirect_to=<?php echo urlencode($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) ?>">Exit</a></li>
</li>
</ul>

<?php elseif ( get_option('users_can_register') ) : ?>

<h2>Identification</h2>
<ul>
<li>
<form action="<?php bloginfo('url') ?>/wp-login.php" method="post">
<p>
<label for="log"><input type="text" name="log" id="log" value="<?php echo wp_specialchars(stripslashes($user_login), 1) ?>" size="22" /> User</label><br />
<label for="pwd"><input type="password" name="pwd" id="pwd" size="22" /> Password</label><br />
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Send" class="button" />
<label for="rememberme"><input name="rememberme" id="rememberme" type="checkbox" checked="checked" value="forever" /> Remember me</label><br />
</p>
<input type="hidden" name="redirect_to" value="<?php echo $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']; ?>"/>
</form>
</li>

<li><a href="<?php bloginfo('url') ?>/wp-register.php">Register</a></li>
<li><a href="<?php bloginfo('url') ?>/wp-login.php?action=lostpassword">Recover password</a></li>
</ul>

<?php endif // get_option('users_can_register') ?>

</li>

When I hit ‘submit comment’ in IE, it appears to link to the sidebar script above and instead pops open the WordPress Login screen.

While I’d love to get the widgets working on this theme, I haven’t been able to figure out why it’s broken so I can’t load in other scripts which may add similar functionality.

If anyone could figure this puzzle out above, it would be greatly appreciated.