A good point Bob. However, was it really a bad thing that this sort of debate was aired? With a public that is increasingly out of touch with the military perhaps raising such an issue - however odious that most of us find this particular subject - might help to get the public to consider the issues at stake during 2 significant conflicts.
I personally find the suggestion ludicrous and the way that the question was posed at the Conference (according to one of the senior guys present, I wasn't there) does sound inappropriate and reveals a rather arrogant attitude. Par for the course perhaps. I'm not surprised that there was a stunned silence. Nonetheless, at least some of the news coverage did attempt to tackle some of the wider moral issues at stake and provoked some thought amongst some of the apathetic public. Some good may therefore have come from it, I believe.