Isn't the goal of the "smart bombs" rather to avoid having to blow up hundreds of structures that cost thousands to get at the one (and to get that one really, properly blown up)?

In a weird sense smart bombs might be considered construction, in much the same way as a carefully-controlled chisel creates a statue rather than destroying a rock.

I'm not making a moral equivalence here -- please don't construe my comment to mean that blowing people up is somehow good. But from the perspective of the person dropping the bomb, they are reshaping rather than destroying. If their goal were purely destructive, there are cheaper means available.