It was never about the environment, it was about minimizing the potential number of cars available without a brain box.
Holy cow. You're right.
The word "clunkers" in the name is absolutely false advertising. It was done with perfectly good vehicles.
It was morally wicked to wantonly destroy perfectly good things. Plain wicked. As Marie said:
Don’t forget the loss of opportunity for poor people and kids trying to buy their first beater. It was a disgusting waste.
Destroying perfectly good things is morally WRONG. See the fruit it bears.