Analysis: Battle With Hezbollah A "War Game" For U.S.?

Analysis: Battle With Hezbollah A "War Game" For U.S.?: "Why is the U.S. giving Israel so much leeway in its war against Hezbollah? Why hasn't Condoleezza Rice been pressing for a ceasefire sooner than today's call, which only followed the Israel Defense Forces strike on the Lebanese town of Qana that killed 55? And why has the Bush administration so far blocked every U.N. attempt at condemning Israel for its 'disproportionate response?'

Is it simply because this time - unlike during previous Israeli operations against terrorists threatening its home front - America 'gets' it? Or is it that Washington's and Israel's interests in dealing a mortal blow to Hezbollah are finally in line?

I think both those points are true, but there's something more going on here. Since 9-11, Israel has valiantly pressed the case that its fight against terror and the global war on jihad are one and the same. That message may finally be getting through.

The U.S. is watching Israel's war with Hezbollah under an intense magnifying glass, but it is relating to it less as a regional struggle and more as a real-life 'war game' with true geopolitical implications.

In the book 'Blink,' researcher Malcolm Gladwell relates a detailed accounting of how the U.S. in 2002 conducted a $250 million Persian Gulf war game, two and a half years in the planning, before actually going into Iraq. The same thing is happening now, except the game has taken six years to plan, will cost the Israeli economy even more, and is anything but virtual: the casualties on both sides are very real.

Center Stage

Israel-Hezbollah is a dress rehearsal for the main event: the U.S. vs. Iran. There's little to distinguish Hezbollah from Iran other than the smaller playing field on which it's conducting its attacks against the Western mini-power of Israel. Nor is Hezbollah's arsenal dissimilar from Iran's; indeed, most of the now 1,600 missiles that Hezbollah has fired into northern Israel c"