The answer - if there is one - to the question of how to deal with those who fall short of the boundaries of acceptable behavior that we aspire to is NOT:

"They started it, so we sank to their level, but only to defeat them."

One's principles are not a mere garment of convenience, are they?

You talk casually about this calculus of death where we select "as cheap and efficient a way as possible in terms of both lives and $$$" to win.

I'm not at all convinced that it's that simple - in fact, I'm absolutely certain that it isn't - nor should it be.

If we betray our principles merely to win, we don't win anything much,

What is life without honor? Mere brute existence. Not the sort of thing you want to reject on a whim, I grant you, but is it REALLY enough for you?

Not for me, I hope.

I pray I never have to do that calculation for those stakes, but I refuse to believe that mere practicality and efficiency are the only yardsticks by which we should measure our actions.

That's my opinion, at any rate...