<I would hope we would have the balls to seek advice on the situation, and to try sending in a team (covert or overt) to minimize civilian casualties, not a missile that would guarantee them.

Advice from who? The French?

Ideally, I would agree with you, but in the early stages of the war in Afghanistan, when most of our initial forces were aircraft and drones, this may not have been practical. The target was constantly on the move, and by the time you got your act together it might be gone. I understand we missed out on at least one opportunity to get some big Al Quaea leaders spotted by a drone because too many permissions and questions were considered.

One might ask why Israel didn't just pop this guy with a rifle shot if they knew where he was. Again, mobility of the target and lack of covert access of Israeli agents to the Gaza strip may have been issues. Or maybe the Israelis were trying to make a big noise to scare people. I don't know.