Propaganda and spin is always easier for an insurgent force:
"The asymmetrical situation has important effects on propaganda. The insurgent, having no responsibility, is free to use every trick; if necessary, he can lie, cheat, exaggerate. He is not obliged to prove; he is judged by what he promises, not by what he does. Consequently, propaganda is a powerful weapon for him. With no positive policy but with good propaganda, the insurgent may still win.
The counterinsurgent is tied to his responsibilities and to his past, and for him, facts speak louder than works. He is judged on what he does, not on what he says. If he lies, cheats, exaggerates, and does not prove, he may achieve some temporary successes, but at the price of being discredited for good. And he cannot cheat much unless his political structures are monolithic, for the legitimate opposition in his own camp would soon disclose his every psychological maneuver. For him, propaganda can be no more than a secondary weapon, valuable only if intended to inform and not to fool. A counterinsurgent can seldom cover bad or nonexistent policy with propaganda. "
The utter lack of accountability inherent in the nature of terror organizations is what lead President Bush to state that you are either with us or you are with the terrorists. An absolute truth, for by their very actions they demand to be dealt with by all civilized societies. Who is Hezbollah accountable to? Lebanon? They utilize Lebanese land and infrastructure. If the government of Lebanon is forced to provide Hezbollah these resources against their will, then Lebanon is a failed state incapable of reigning in the foriegn financed terror organization perched on their land and Israel's norther border. Iran and Syria are paying the terror group's bills. If Lebanon's intentions are pure, then we can strenthen their state and force Hezbollah to find another host. And if they have no willing host (or failed state to leach off of), they will eventually run out of resources and starve. If, on the other hand, they have a symbiotic relationship with the government of Lebanon, then they join Iran and Syria in waging a proxy war on their neighbor and all three governments must be held accountable for essentially waging a war by proxy.
That same lack of accountability is what lead to the creation of Article 28 of the 4th Geneva Convention:
The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations.
As RD pointed out, anyone who hides in the midst of civilians to shield themselves from counter attack is responsible for the deaths of those they put in harms way. That is true in southern Lebanon, it is true in the al Anbar province in Iraq where insurgents attack our soldiers wearing civilian clothing and rush into civilian homes to evade capture, and it is true anywhere such tactics are employed.
Our soldiers are scrutinized in every possible way. In fighting for their lives, in holding captives caught in battle, in questioning captives, and in their very words and attitudes. They receive tepid and fickel support for performing near impossible tasks. Yet when is the last time you heard of a terrorist group being taken to account for the ghastly beheading of a captured soldier or civilian or for setting off bombs in crowded civilian areas or for the brutal torture and mutilation of a captive? You don't. And that is partly because there is no way to hold a stateless and often faceless and nameless foe to account, and partly because the only ones that could possibly hold them to account are OUR SOLDIERS. And they know it. And they TARGET and kill the very people they claim to fight on behalf of in order to further their goals. And they get away with it because people offer them the legitimacy EARNED by those who strive toward civility and are accountable to all. The terrorists know full well how to take advantage of this and the left willingly serves their cause by breathlessly covering incidents like Qana as the great human tragedy it is without telling you that Hezbollah had been firing rockets from Qana and then rushing to hide in civilian structures. Hezbollah is responsible for the deaths in Qana. If they cared about the people in souther Lebanon, they wouldn't use them as shields. And if the left concerned themselves with responsible dissent rather than the scorched earth variety they engage in almost exclusively then perhaps the civilian targeting, civilian shield using terrorists would be incapable of selling their deceptive propaganda, or at least much less capable. Buying into their ploys is bad enough. Today the left fabricates propaganda for them.
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