Yep. Typical propaganda tactic. If some here were to actually read the link to the story, it makes your point rather clear and it provides a counterpoint from an UN spokesperson, but that would kill the propaganda buzz.

would you exploit the media to your own ends? I would. And, I would tell the gullible media that I do not hide within the civilan population, especially if I could turn the court of public opinion.

chavala and you other imbeciles,

dont you know that "calling anyone that criticizes israel an anti-semite" went out of fashion with the 20th century. anyone with half a brain sees through that lazy strategy now. the fact is that you can no longer silence the growing number of people that see the ugly actions of a bunch of psychotic land-thieves and call bullshit on it, by invoking the shadow of the holocaust anymore. there have been to many dead lebanese civilians and palestinian children for that.

the fact is that you support a murderous regime that refuses to withdraw to its UN-approved borders because it wants fruitful land that does not belong to it. it wants all the water in the area under its control and it wants the people whos homes it stole and who its obligated by international law to allow back, to go away and die. even if it has to drop american bombs on all of them.

so crawl back in your hole you ethically challenged tool, the world doesnt want what you are selling anymore.

I am angry and incensed that Salon would actually report the truth. How dare Mitch Prothero actually report on the facts on the ground that he sees with his own eyes instead of taking dictation from both sides! what journalism school did Mitch graduate from? Prothero sounds awful like a arabic name-kind of, maybe. I ask salon to conduct an investigation into this matter. Israeli F-16 pilots are trained from hundreds of miles up to distinguish between Hezboallah fighters and innocent civilians- even when they fly hundreds of miles an hour.

from today's CBC News:

The Khiyam post is not only one of the oldest (and best marked) UN posts in southern Lebanon, it is also one of the more strategic. It is on a plateau that overlooks an expansive valley to the south, a valley that has often been an important invasion route in the past.

The post is also said to enjoy a commanding view of the Israeli army's forward positions on the Golan Heights to the east. So from an Israeli point of view it would be a key enemy launching site if it could be controlled, even for a short time.

I guess my trust of the Israeli version is proportinal to the usual mistrust of anything that might explain Israeli motives - other than those Jews are "monsters." Maybe because I'm a Jew myself, or maybe because I feel I have an historical context sadly missing from many around here, I don't believe that Israel would kill people for the sake of killing them...

Many of you here seem to think they take pleasure in it.

Hezbollah is, of course, our enemy. Were American troops to be stationed in Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah, Hezbollah would try to kill Americans, as they did in the past. But the need of some of the letter writers to demonize the enemy is a mistake. Demonizing the enemy almost always leads to misunderstanding them and therefore underestimating them in actual confrontations. Mr. Prothero’s article was enlightening, adding to my understanding of how Hezbollah operates. Other readers’ dislike of the article because it was insufficiently negative in its portrayal of Hezbollah is misguided. Understanding of the world, and the consequent ability to deal with it rationally, is only possible when full discussion is possible. Demonization limits discussion and understanding. The extreme attacks on almost any position that is not sufficiently pro-Israel has been extremely damaging to American foreign policy and ultimately further endangers America.

I hope Salon continues to provide enlightening articles and is not cowed into pro-Israel orthodoxy as so much of the MSM has been by the vicious letter writing campaigns, and more, that almost always ensue any nuanced view on the Middle East. For every one of those who threaten to unsubscribe because Salon is not sufficiently pro-Israel, I am sure that there are several of us that still turn to Salon for information precisely because it is still an open-minded voice on the subject. I know that I gradually abandoned Slate as it slid further and further into the pro-Israel orthodoxy.

I guess there is an endless supply of mediocre journalists ready to buy whatever spin sold to them by self described "freedom fighters". Shame on Salon for giving these guys front page space to write their drivel. I don't have to repeat what others have written about the innacuracy of Mr. Prothero's writing, but you might review your recent history; Arab terrorists have been hiding behind women and children for decades. Also, when your intrepid Mr. Prothero was there, why didn't he ask the Lebanese why all that Iranian Aid money (which doesn't thrill the Iranian public)went for arms to attack Israel civilians, not say factories or hotels.

For a more interesting, and accurate perspective, I suggest your review the opinion page from the Arab Times: http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/opinion/default.asp. No lovers of Israel, they are not indulging knee jerk anti-Israel diatribes practiced by the likes of Mr. Prothero (and others published by Salon), they are instead questioning why Nasralla decided to start this stupid war. Like Pres. Bush, Nasralla didn't get the war he wanted, but the war his opponents decided to fight.

It is a little late for Hezballa to complain about the consequences of their own mistakes on their friends, neighbors and yes, supporters.

I'm not quite sure about the criteria that causes Salon to star certain comments.

What people keep missing is that Hezbollah is an authentic, indiginous Lebanese creation, born out of the rubble of a Lebanon decimated once before by the Israelis. As such, blowing up their missile bases will not remove them from Lebanon. You'd have to kill not just the Shia, but everyone opposed to Israel's iron hand in the region, which, thanks to this latest round of slaughter, is now higher than ever.

What people conveniently forget is that the Palestinian people were collectively punished for excercising their democratic right, which is the starting point (for this chapter) of this carnage.

(And by the way, the claim that Hamas kills more Palestinians than the Israelis do is utterly unfounded. I would like to see a (non-right-wing) source.)

What people don't seem to understand is that no human being accepts change to be forced on them at the barrel of a gun (or down the chute of an American-made F-16). Iraq should have taught you that. Hell, Chile and the Congo should have taught you that.

Just because Israel and America hide behind the masks of "real armies" does not make them any less barbaric or disgusting than what they purport Hamas and Hezbollah to be.

What people are missing is that there's a lot of us "moderates" in the Middle East who reject religious ideology as a basis for reistance, but who equally reject Western hegemony and Israeli colonialism. There is no longer any place for us in this narrow, binary world (if there ever was indeed).

But if you force us to choose between a foreign plan for "democracy" (read: economic domination and carte blanche for Israel to pursue its annexation of Palestinian lands and the subjugation and humiliation of the Palestinian people) and people who at least understand our language, culture, and our deep anger and sorrow over the carnage of our lands and history, we will choose our own people.

I think you will all agree it's human nature.