Can not agree with you more HornBlower!
I read an article by Thomas Sowell today titled "Is thinking now obsolete?" and here is the quote that stuck in my head:
"Has any other country, in any other war, been expected to keep the enemy’s civilian casualties no higher than its own civilian casualties? The idea that Israel should do so did not originate among the masses but among the educated intelligentsia."
Heres the link to the article.
http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/is-thinking-now-obsolete/