> By ignoring the fact that one of the parties involved here has no identity as such
Both the US and each of the groups it had targeted under the 9/11 AUMF has an identity.
Some of the targets are parts of diffuse groups with little central command structure, which makes it very hard to end a war against them (and harder still to draw and end to an open ended war where targets are added by loose association), which is a problem of the crafting of the AUMF, it's continuation in effect, and the Congressional oversight of the war effort.
In an international law sense, there's a host of valid questions about the adequacy and appropriateness of the rules governing conflicts involving non-state actors (such as Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.)
> Now, it absolutely sucks that the other party doesn't play by the rules but that is no reason to stop playing by those rules ourselves.
I don't disagree, but drone strikes per se aren't a violation of the rules.
> I'll probably have a hard time convincing you that on the evening of 9/11/2001 America had the keys to a new world order in its hands
Well, yeah, that's a claim that would take some support.
> and squandered the opportunity by seeking petty revenge and economic advantage.
While I doubt the existence of the opportunity you suggest was squandered, I do think the US government did a grave disservice to both itself and the world community with it's conduct in the years immediately following 9/11, most especially, but not exclusively, in the naked war of aggression it leveraged domestic outrage at 9/11 to justify in Iraq.
And I think there are deep problems with the broader “War on Terror”, I just seem to disagree with you on the degree to which those problems are due to violations of clear proscriptions in international law or failure to observe ceremonial requirements.