It seems to me that a measured response is exactly what is called for. Since we are at war with these evil organizations we should fight to win. If bombing every hut in Afghanistan is truly what it takes to win, then bombs away. Winning is more that smoking BinLaden. You can't kill his organization by killing him, any more than you could kill Microsoft by killing Bill Gates. You destroy them by depriving them of the resources they need to survive. In the case of BinLaden, it is his wealth and sympathetic governments. Track down his assets and either confiscate them, or destroy them. If a government shields or aids him, eliminate it. Every effort should be made to capture BinLaden and his cohorts alive. They should be interrogated (no holds barred) until they give up every shred of information about their organization. Then once they are broken, they should spend the rest of their lives alone in a cell knowing that they betrayed their own cause. If their greatest honor is to die for their cause, then they should be made to live in betrayal of it. We will win when everyone knows that doing business with, or harboring, terrorists is certain doom. Terrorists might be willing to die for their cause, but governments aren't and businessmen aren't.
Our response should be measured, in that we don't lash out blindly. But it should be a full measure, fight to win.