Israel-Hizbollah fight is policy windfall for Bush

[tocqueville]

Thu Jul 20, 2006 3:11pm ET
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.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-07-20T191124Z_01_N20443772_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-USA-POLICY.xml&src=072006_1514_TOPSTORY_battle_on_border