Don Firth: "your knee-jerk idea that Americans in general, or me personally, totally approve of the whole operation,"

I can't speak on behalf of anyone else of course, but I'm sure that no-one who has read through this thread properly could have missed that responses from US posters have been varied and considered and certainly not smugly self-congratulatory or jingoistic.

"No matter what one may think of the Obama administration, it beats the hell out of the alternative."

I believe you. And being an outsider, I really don't have a dog in that race.
However, I feel it is still nonetheless appropriate to judge this President according to both his words and actions.
The statement I referred to previously also made mention of the importance of emulating the inspirational example set by the Nuremburg trails in relation to any future capture of bin Laden:

"'What would be important would be for us to do it in a way that allows the entire world to understand the murderous acts that he's engaged in and not to make him into a martyr, and to assure that the United States government is abiding by basic conventions that would strengthen our hand in the broader battle against terrorism.'
The senator cited the Nuremberg trials as an inspiration because the liberators of Nazi-occupied Europe acted to advance universal principles and set a tone for the creation of an international order."

Quote from the Daily Mail, which isn't a preferred usual source, but it seems an unbiased report:

I Won't Make bin Laden a Martyr