...but nothing in it seems outside the bounds of legitimate warfare. All of them seem defensible, given the context of an actual threat to our national security.

It seems that some of this is made possible by having precession munitions, but precession munitions are better than less discriminate munitions. Given the choice between striking Al Qaeda's #2 man at a wedding or a funeral vs. leveling the whole town or invading the country, the more targeted strike seems the better option.