<As you say -- people are being killed anyway, so, if we posit that we will do illegal things, it hardly matters who does the killing, just that there be as little of it as possible of it. -sigh-

Trade places with me, Mary Anne. You take my M1 and know that there are people around theis imaginary missile I posted above who would like nothing better than to see you dead -- for whatever number of reasons they may have. You are a threat to their livelihood, therefore a target. They are a threat to your completing the mission of stopping that missile, and the only way you can ever hope to accomplish this task is to be prepared to kill, with extreme prejudice. You don't need to come out of this alive, but the mission must be completed.

"You don't need to come out of this alive."

You don't even have to care whether the missile actually does have a bio/chem, or even nuke warhead. All you need to do is keep in on the ground.

You're already living in hell on earth, so who really cares? Not the folks with the guns. A lot of them probably signed their souls over to their makers during their first engagement. Others might take a little longer. It's survival time, and any moment might be your last.

Of course it matters who does the killing, and it's best if most of the deaths occur on their side, not yours.

Rome.

Seems they were all there for one purpose, whether they were grand empires, or the city-states. Conquest of all neighboring states, and a fair democracy, though only for the most wealthy.

They had some good ideas, too...

Dan