Israel-Hizbollah fight is policy windfall for Bush

Israel-Hizbollah fight is policy windfall for Bush

By Caroline Drees, Security Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Israel’s campaign to destroy Hizbollah is a foreign policy windfall for the Bush administration, which hopes it will boost the U.S. war on terrorism and heap pressure on its nemesis Iran, analysts say.

“It’s not just Israel that doesn’t want a ceasefire here,” said David Makovsky, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank.

Long a stalwart ally of Israel, the White House has repeatedly voiced support for Israel’s right to self-defense and denied the nine-day-old Israeli bombardment could be considered America’s war too.

But administration officials admit the current fighting, triggered by the Islamic militants’ capture of two Israeli soldiers and rocket attacks into northern Israel, is also furthering some U.S. goals.

“To the extent that this is part of the war on terror, we certainly have an interest in it,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said on Wednesday. …[Click for more]

Technorati : Bush, Israel-Hizbollah, War on Terror

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