Again, don't hide your 'fighters' and weapons in civilian towns and civilians wouldn't get killed. And IMO if killing 500 civilians is what it takes to have peace between countries of millions of people, while cold and saddening, it is necessary. If Israel really didn't care about killing Lebanons civilian population, there would not currently be a Lebanon on the map. Israel has more then enough US firepower to remove the country. Put that same firepower in others hands, like Iran, and what happens will not be nearly as responsible.
On propaganda speak, there was the latest story of the convoy of people and journalists out roaming around Lebanon to find people in remote villages. There was a report of how the convoy got hit by Israeli firepower. What was conveniently left out of the discussion was the fact that the convoy was warned by a roadblock prior to entering the area that Israel was actively shelling the region and roads. The group took the warning, but continued anyway.
When you're fighting a battle against people that hide within civilians, civilians will draw fire. This is what Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups rely on. They assume there is no way a country would take the heat for killing thousands of civilians in order to get the fighters. Then they use these civilian casualties to show how cruel the other party is.
If you would really like to look into how radicals in the middle east use propoganda on their citizens check out
http://www.noniedarwish.com/.
Synopsis of Nonie Darwish's book:
"Why are so many Muslims embracing jihad and cheering for al-Qaeda and Hamas? Why are even the modern, secularized Arab states such as Egypt producing a generation of angry young extremists?
Nonie Darwish knows why. When she was eight, her father died while leading Fedayeen raids into Israel. Her family moved from Gaza back to Cairo, where they were honored as survivors of a “shahid”—a martyr for jihad. She grew up learning the same lessons as millions of Muslim children: to hate Jews, destroy Israel, oppose America, and submit to dictatorship.
But Darwish became increasingly appalled by the anger and hatred in her culture, and in 1978 she emigrated to America. Since 9/11 she has been lecturing and writing on behalf of moderate Arabs and Arab-Americans. Extremists have denounced her as an infidel and threatened her life.
In this fascinating book, she speaks out against the dark side of her native culture—women abused by Islamic traditions; the poor and uneducated mistreated by the elites; bribery and corruption as a way of life. Her former friends and neighbors blamed all the their troubles on Jews and Americans, but Darwish rejects their bigotry and calls for the Arab world to make peace with the West.
The only hope for the future, she writes, is for America to continue waging its War on Terror, seeding the Middle East with the values of democracy, respect for women, and tolerance for all religions. "