Except it’s not. “Destroy that hierarchy... and you destroy them." is what Paladin say. And I ask, who was destroyed? The Kilrathi? The Kilrathi are still round. No, the Kilrathi Empire was destroyed. If Confed wanted to destroy the Kilrathi, it could. But it didn’t. Confed didn’t refuse to accept their surrender. Confed didn’t lean upon the fact they had no homeworld, but instead decided to give them a new one. Confed didn’t enslave the Kilrathi, but gave them reparations! Confed didn’t rob their territory, but gave systems back. Confed was not bent on hate and genocide, it was defending itself. It was self-defense, not aggression.
Because the point is not destroying the planet. Paladin makes that completely clear. The point is destroying the Empire. Destroying the culture that makes the Kilrathi attack and enslave Confed citizens. The Kilrathi would never stop before this didn’t happen. This isn’t about a planet. Even if Confed had to use conventional means, it would still *have* to destroy the Kilrathi culture, or there would be no peace. Everyone knows the Kilrathi don’t accept peace. They nuke their embassies and execute your ambassadors when they think they can take you. So unless the culture that produces this is destroyed, Confed would not have a chance for peace.
They do have other clans, right? That action destroyed the Empire, but not the Kilrathi race. Their culture did not cease to exist. Perhaps it was genocide against the Emperor's clan, but not against the Kilrathi as a race.
Furthermore, the objective was a defensive one: to win the war and prevent further Kilrathi aggression. For as long as there was an Empire, there would be war. There could be no peace with the Kilrathi while there was an Empire and a Culture towards aggression. The terrible consequences of the attempt at peace made it impossible. Whose fault was that? The Kilrathi.
Confed could continue to pursue the Kilrathi forces, before or after accepting their surrender, but choose not to. Without a vast fleet to protect them, the Kilrathi would be an easy prey. Confed not only helped the Kilrathi but even paid reparations! Not the course of action of a government bent over the genocide.
So as you can see I don't entirely agree with either side on this matter. It could've been classified as genocide, but not in a proper way. The objective was not to destroy a race, but to stop an aggression. If the only way to do that was to destroy the Empire, and the Kilrathi culture of aggression and enslavement with it, perhaps that's what Confed ha to do. But that's not the same as targeting the Kilrathi for bigotry, racism or imperialism, it was not a petty maneuver to steal their territory or open their market to sell them products.
The Kilrathi "culture" made them be at constant war to conquer mankind, so not only destroying that "culture" was justifiable, it was the only way at all. The Kilrathi would not surrender and would not accept peace. It was their responsibility to have made this an absolute choice between "genocide" and surrender, so what happened is at least as much their fault as it is Confed’s.
Since the Kilrathi surrender, Confed did act in a respectful and humane way, gave the cats a new home world, not enslaving them or made them suffer terribly for the crimes they perpetrated. We know it was not a purely act of vengeance and hate. The term "genocide" has strong connotations of something hateful and wrong, and if what Confed did was justifiable, or if Confed had no alternative, than its use is at least misleading if not downright wrong.
The destruction of Kilrah was a terrible, terrible thing. But what were the alternatives? Confed would have to fight this war forever, or until one of the sides were defeated. And since the Kilrathi culture dictate they don’t surrender, the only way to defeat them was to destroy this culture. There was no other way.
Saying it was wrong doesn’t cut it. This is a matter of alternatives. If the Kilrathi culture says they can never surrender, how to win against them without destroying this culture? Total destruction? Isn’t the destruction of this part of their culture preferable to their own ultimate doom? A lot of Kilrathi were left after Kilrah. If they had to fight to the last one of them because of their culture, it would not be the case. So how can you say it would be best? What options did Confed have? Surrender? Be enslaved? That’s unacceptable by the culture of Confed. It was a battle of cultures, and one of them had to go.
It gets down to this:
To enslave mankind, the Kilrathi Empire would have to destroy Confed. To prevent this, Confed had to thestroy the Kilrathi Empire. Confed won.