Yeah, they ordered a hit.
I suppose you could argue that there wasn't much intelligence etc. to be had out of him, but it's hard to dismiss the "practical" argument entirely. The main issue is the way the moral high ground was, well, dumped in the sea. Most Islamic clerics are basically yeah the burial was completely blasphemous, though I certainly don't expect there to be much sympathy for that view outside the parts of the Islamic world that were sympathetic to Bin Laden already. Of course, if he'd been captured, burial would not have been such an issue.
Granted, when I say "the moral high ground" I only speak internationally. The vast majority of the cowboy nation will be more than thrilled with this outcome.
So the decision is debatable.
What I think would have been much better was for Obama to have ordered it as "dead or alive" in the sense of "capture him if it's practical and can be done with minimal risk, but if capturing him would endanger the mission or any personnel involved, just whack him". That gives you almost the exact same result, but with all the plausible deniability you need to save face.
As one fellow I know said "Catch as catch can".
