Mini-WWIII

The WSJ had a front page article yesterday called "Why Hezbollah Is Proving So Tough On the Battlefield:"

As Israel ended its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, its army left behind part of a strategic outpost known as Karqom. Concerned they might damage an ancient synagogue nearby, soldiers hesitated to level the outpost, as they did the rest of their military infrastructure.

When Israel's military returned to Karqom during the fighting in recent weeks, what was left of the outpost was gone. In its place was a fortified, 5,000-square-foot Hezbollah military base with a radio tower, secure satellite communications and a unit of more than a dozen guards.

I had to read that number a couple of times to realize what they were talking about: "5,000-square-what?" I'm used to military bases like the Marines' Camp Pendleton, which occupies about 200 square miles of prime Southern California real estate stretching 17.5 miles along the Pacific Ocean between Greater Los Angeles and San Diego. That's well over five billion square feet. And Fort Hood in Texas is about 70% bigger.

A military base of less than 1/8th of an acre? You could fit two of them on a run of the mill quarter-acre suburban lot. It's less than one-millionth the size of Camp Pendleton.

I keep harping on the miniature scale of the current war in Lebanon to counteract the "WWIII" hysteria. For example, here's a listing from today's National Review Online:

AT WAR: MIDEAST

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: It’s the 1930s all over again. “The Brink of Madness”

The Brink of Madness, indeed.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer