Good article with good ideas. And yeah, the attacking of civilian target is just a terrible policy. I liked President Obama and agreed with him on most things, but the most significant disagreement I ever had with his policies was the Drone War. I have no doubt that Drone Bombing during the Obama era has created more terrorists that we will be dealing with for the next 5 decades than it actually killed or stopped.
But of course we can't just oversimplify things. Engaging terrorists in battle is not easy. They aren't an army you can meet in the open field of battle and defeat. They are integrated among the civilian population to a high degree, which makes it very difficult to attack them while sparing the civilian population. I do get that, but however great that effort is, it would be worth the undertaking to avoid basically using our bombs to fertilize a terrorist farm.