Grid,

It must be nice to live in a world of absolutes. If we wanted to save innocent lives, we as Americans should simply stop driving cars and stop importing goods from 3rd world countries with few labor laws.

We're talking about a system of crime prevention and punishment such that a greater good (net benefit) is produced. Our country is losing sight of the greater good principle as we always seek the fine print and absolutes to define our systems. The problem is, the real world consists of losses, entropy in every system. If we follow your theory, the Government is guilty of murder because we know going into every war that friendly fire casualties will occur. Now those who want to win a war understand that acceptable losses are a statistic that can be overcome.

See the larger picture.