How do we really know how many innocent Lebanese civilians have died?

Question

First they report that 40 people died in Houla, then they say, oops, our mistake, it was really only one. See the news story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060807/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_israel_843;_ylt=ArUSrs.ECuAY1lAgvnpsO_8UvioA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
How can we tell whether the news reports of Lebanese civilian casualties are anywhere near accurate? It doesn't benefit Hezbollah to admit that someone killed was one of their own. It looks better for them if Israel is the bad guy killing innocent civilians. I'm not saying there are no civilian deaths in Lebanon, I am just asking why the news reports all of these civilian deaths as fact when they have no unbiased source that can confirm who is or isn't an actual civilian. Should the media require disclaimers?

Answer 1

First of all, there are civilian casualties in South Lebanon. Does not matter if they are caused by Hezbollah tactics to use civilians as human shield. Yes, people are killed. And now "independent" media has to use them the numbers and pictures for condemning Israel as severe as possible. Everything works: numbers falsification, pictures falsification, biased stories, etc. Find attached the story about falsified picture used by Reuters. Interesting is that the man who took many of the photos that were published world wide on the Qana incident is the same guy that faked the picture of Beirut in this article. This fact gives more support to the suspicion that Qana pictures were STAGED, and number of casualties were altered to intensify the advertising message.

Answer 2

You're right. And now there are reports coming out of freelance reporters in Lebanon who are actually doctoring photos to make the death and violence look worse than it is. Bottom line: you have to get your news from more than one source, because most news media has an agenda...they aren't just reporting anymore.

Answer 3

Unfortunately in any urban war the majority of casualties will be the innocent. This is exacerbated when militia forces seek refuge and seek military advantage in operating from civilian centres. Sadly bombs and rockets cannot discriminate and militia forces should look at not only their tactics but also on whose behalf they are waging war.

Answer 4

We don’t know. The powers-that-be will swing the numbers in whatever direction serves the political agenda. For all we know the Lebanese government inflates the numbers to get sympathy. The Israeli government wants to deflate the numbers so they don’t look so bad.

It is a sad state of affairs no matter what.

Answer 5

because isreal is the killer and if isreal is the killer than we know alot is going to died