Was There a Legal Basis for Zarqawi's Assassination?

In April, military documents revealed that Zarqawi was not as important as was widely believed and that the U.S. intentionally magnified Zarqawi's importance both in Iraq and in the U.S. in order to direct violence against Zarqawi from other Iraqis. The coincidence between these and other events and Zarqawi's death seems too great to be ignored.