The difference between 'collateral damage' and murdering civilians

Here's a story the 'wingnutoshpere' will find hard to spin. It seems that Israeli fighter pilots are deliberately missing their targets because they believe that the intelligence they are receiving is 'flawed'. They're obviously aware that the actions recently of the IAF have led to mass killings of civilians, a large number of which are children. Added to this there is a groundswell of opinion within the Israeli military and within the Israeli civilian population, that Olmert's war is one destined for failure. The war cheerleaders over at LGF will have to make a decision, are these pilots traitors for not executing their mission or heroes for not murdering innocent civilians despite clear orders from the top?

At least two Israeli fighter pilots have deliberately missed civilian targets in Lebanon as disquiet grows in the military about flawed intelligence, The Observer has learnt. Sources say the pilots were worried that targets had been wrongly identified as Hizbollah facilities.
Voices expressing concern over the armed forces' failures are getting louder. One Israeli cabinet minister said last week: 'We gave the army so much money. Why are we getting these results?' Last week saw Hizbollah's guerrilla force, dismissed by senior Israeli military officials as 'ragtag', inflict further casualties on one of the world's most powerful armies in southern Lebanon. At least 12 elite troops, the equivalent of Britain's SAS, have already been killed, and by yesterday afternoon Israel's military death toll had climbed to 45.

As the bodies pile up, so the Israeli media has begun to turn, accusing the military of lacking the proper equipment, training and intelligence to fight a guerrilla war in Lebanon. Israel's Defence Minister, Amir Peretz, on a tour of the front lines, was confronted by troubled reserve soldiers who told him they lacked proper equipment and training.

Israel's chief of staff, Major-General Dan Halutz, had vowed to wipe out Hizbollah's missile threat within 10 days. These claims are now being mocked as rockets rain down on Israel's north with ever greater intensity, despite an intense and highly destructive air bombardment.

Source: The Guardian