Because Apple's development team is a bunch of arrogant idiots! And they don't care what their customers think. To not have this very basic feature is inexcusable. Especially when there have been threads all over the web, for years, with people complain about the lack of it. Apple REALLY needs to take a step back, and focus a little on usability, instead of just trying to impress us shiny objects.
What is it with them leaving such grade school features out of their devices for multiple versions, that were standard in much older devices and software from version one. Another prime example, remember the BIG announcement over cut, copy, paste? As if they reinvented the wheel.
Anyway, after years of agony, I finally found this app. It will actually allow you to edit the database, and delete just individual addresses if you want. http://www.icopybot.com/itunes-backup-manager.htm