NETWORKS have been conducting huge dress rehearsals to cover a war with Iraq and the possibility of massive terrorist retaliations on the U.S. and Israel.

The rehearsals, which entail satellite hookups with scores of reporters and producers overseas, have ranged from detailed reinactments of possible war coverage to bare-bones equipment tests.

One such test last week, at ABC News, had correspondents reporting on chemical attacks on U.S. troops and the detonation of a terrorist dirty bomb, containing nuclear materials in the U.S., sources said.

ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider confirmed the “scripted” rehearsals, but said they were held for technical purposes, to make sure that the network’s equipment – everything from satellite links to the video phones carried by correspondents on location in the Middle East – was in working order.

A less detailed drill at CBS News was linked producers and reporters from around the world to anchorman Dan Rather.

NBC News has also conducted run-throughs in the last couple of weeks, but needs less testing since most of the network’s overseas reporters are already live everyday on MSNBC and CNBC.