Was the bombing attempt to kill Saddam legitimate?

Is say Tim McVeigh (Oklahoma bomber) had been stood behind a school party and a policeman by shooting several members of the school party could have killed him and stopped the bombing would that have been ok ?

The attempt to kill Saddam involved the destruction of quite a large area and several buildings containing possibly innocent people so was it the right thing to do.

Why does an expensive bomb from from an even more expensive aeroplane sound ok. Its a "surgical strike " etc.

I've never heard the IRA attempt to blow up the cabinet in Brighton described as a surgical strike. Maybe they should have bought a jet and used some laser guided munitions.

How many innocents lives are expendable to get the bad guy ?
I don't know the answer to that.

Nick Mason