Killing the Big Shot in Iran sent a message. If we can intimidate the enemy out of a bigger war, then that sounds like a good idea to me. I mean it’s not as if Clinton air strikes to try and kill Saddam and bin Laden were bad, right?
While Clinton did use an airstrike to take out suspected military sites in Iraq, Clinton never attempted to use airstrikes to kill Saddam Hussein because Saddam was an “elected” president and we had that silly ‘no assassination of national leaders’ rule since the Kennedy Bay of Pigs fiasco.
Clinton did cancel an airstrike on bin Laden [not off limits to assassination because he wasn’t a national leader] because of fears that some officials from other Arab countries who were on a hunting trip with OBL would be hit.