Think about the countless civilian people who are considered officially to be "collateral damage" in war zones. Isn't that a term which has an anaesthetsising effect and which takes away the human tragedy of the act? It gives the scene a sense of fatalism, the sense that it's a risk we're willing to take - that the end justifies the means (to overuse a cliche)?
The "greater good" theory can override one's ethic and moral baselines when dilemmas are faced by anyone who needs to make difficult decisions. Having said this, I wouldn't want to be where President Obama or any other world leader is.
