The two main sides in a discussion of the rules of war take these positions. (1) Wars should be made as humane as possible, and civilians should not be targeted. Or (2) "The more awful you can make war the sooner it will be over." The quote is from Sherman, and he did not kill civilians on purpose, as we did in World War II.
In the history of the rules of war, one side actually does take the position that wars should be made a horrible as possible, because that will shorten wars and save lives in the long run. That is how torturers justify themselves and so on. Torturers also find justification in imaginative fictions: "What would you do if by torturing a Muslim you could save a billion children from a nuclear bomb?"
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