[bihnkim]

If people are going to go to fight until one side is wiped out, minimizing attrition and ending the war more quickly and convincingly may be seen as a measure to minimize casualty.

This is not necessarily my personal view, but one way logic could be applied to this statement.

[Aeolun]

The problem is that if both sides are really good at wiping out the other quickly, they might wipe each other out before they realize the other side has the same capability.