jwca,
Crowd lines go with modern warfare. But then they went with Napoleonic warfare too.
Remember the macho invasion of Somalia? The newsie, standing up,who helpfully pointed out the the grunt, head down in the sand, that he had dropped his wrist watch?
Remember the crowd lines in Umm Quasr and Bagadad?
Accuracy and precision from well trained forces means that civilians are relatively safe if they are separate from the bad guys. Even Afghanistan had a crowd line and cheering crowds as our friends lowered the profiles of the mountains.