What our government Obama should NOT be doing is talking about it.
"We will neither confirm nor deny any detail of the raid."
Period.
You are bringing up military tribunals, and "cases" and "bad law". You are even bringing up "private houses". What next? That a house was legally posted with "No Trespassing" signs?
Hello! .... This is a WAR and Osama bin Ladin was an enemy COMMANDER.
In a war, there are no "private houses". In a war, there are "targets" and "buildings" and "positions" at certain geographic coordinates.
In war, there are no "suspects". In war, there are "enemy forces" be they in logistics, be they in command and control or be they on the front lines.
In war, you kill enemy forces, with the least risk to your own forces, as efficiently as possible. Enemy forces are legitimate targets even if they are sitting on a latrine, taking a dump, wondering what that thing up in that tree way over there is.
ALL enemy forces in command and control are legitimate targets for lethal action in the most efficient and effective way possible with the least possible risk to your own forces. The health of the target is the consideration that comes dead last. (No pun intended.)
Was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the architect of the Pearl Harbor attack, a legitimate target for killing without trial during World War II?
As a Commander, yes, he was.
Was Adolf Hitler a legitimate target for killing without trial during World War II?
As a Commander, yes, he was.
Was Winston Churchill a legitimate target for killing without trial during World War II?
As a Commander, yes, he was.
As I said, in war, the health of the enemy target comes dead last in consideration.
You never know if trying to talk a 6 foot, 5 inch fanatic into surrendering or wrestling with a 6 foot, 5 inch fanatic is going to provide the needed distraction or the needed 2.3 seconds for an armed bodyguard to burst into the room and kill one or several of the SEAL Team.
Not even another enemy bursting into the room or a 6 foot 5 inch man is required for such a thing to happen.
If that cute little woman can pull that off, you want to give a 6 foot 5 inch man a fighting chance in his own, pitch dark room?
"There he is, to your left! POP. POP. POP."
That's the way it went down.
Otto von Bismarck said that “The less people know about how sausages and laws are made, the better they'll sleep at night”.
That also applies to war.
If you believe that, in war, the concept of a "a private house" exists for the geographic coordinates of the location of an enemy Commander, then you also probably believe that sausages come from the Sausage Fairy.
That is why, for the benefit of sensitive people like you and for future operational security, the Obama Administration should have limited their statement to the following:
"The raid was carried out in the most efficient way possible, with utmost care being taken to minimize all possible risks so that that another Desert One debacle would not occur. The mission was accomplished and Osama bin Ladin died during the operation. Beyond that, we will neither confirm nor deny any operational details".