I think that it helped a little that neither Clinton or his VP were 'big-oil' and that Kosovo is hardly noted for it's oil exports.

A lot of the scepticism over this Gulf War has arisen from distrust over the motive. The fact that Halliburton had been awarded a contract in Iraq before a single shot had been fired hardly helped to allay this distrust.

I also think that while Clinton's complete avoidance of the UN route was not really desirable, it's easier to maintain respect for someone who effectively says "This needs to be done, I can do it, I'm gonna do it, look I've done it and it helped" than it is to maintain respect for someone who says "This needs to be done, I can do it, I'm gonna do it, How can I legitimise my decision?".

Hmm. I'm not sure whether that will be understood as intended. Let me analogise;
Say you want a $10000 tool to perform your job. Although this new tool would potentially allow you to perform significantly more effectively, no one has complained about your work whilst you've been using the old one. So you ask your boss, he asks his boss and so on, until eventually the proposal gets put to the board of directors who due to the company's poor financial health, advise against it. Then you go and buy it anyway because you had already made the decision. Would you be surprised if everyone was pissed at you?
Now suppose that instead of asking, you just ordered the thing and had the invoice sent to the accounts department. By the time the invoice is sent and the accounts department trace who put the order in, you can prove that the productivity gains were worth the outlay. After an initial grilling you would probably be recognised as a prudent risk taker.