Could it be to show that the US Military/DOD are...
Complaining about something being dangerous, but unwilling to preemptively take it down? If it's dangerous to US personnel and protected sources, then taking out the sites could show the DOD means business.
But, failure to hit ALL the hosts' outflowing of the Papers would show that the DOD is not as Web-War-Centric capable as it positions itself to be. Preemptively attacking the outflow might be illegal, in which case the DOD would be liable for damages, and not attacking the outflow means or could signal that the data is not ALL as dangerous asl it's cracked up to be.
Paradox? Conundrum? Other?