You have to find the best strategy within those boundaries. General Powell pointed to a simpler explanation. In fairness, if the Administration had slavishly followed the Powell doctrine in the 1990's, the United States would never have approved the limited bombing that, when combined with a Croatian ground offensive, brought an end to the war in Bosnia . There were no American combat fatalities. You do it nice and cleanly.
Nobody gets their feet muddy.
A pilot flies over at 15,000 feet, kills only those people that need to be killed, flies homes and has a cold beer with a beautiful young lady. This is not a new concept. The notion of winning World War II from the air seduced President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Gen. George C. Marshall, the Army Chief of Staff, struggled to persuade Roosevelt to balance air, land and sea forces. Marshall was proved right, as 1940's technology failed miserably in producing a risk-free war in Europe.