It didn't work in the early 2000s. But why would you use past capabilities to reason about current capabilities? The world changed, and our reasoning needs to be updated accordingly. It took 3 years and a ground invasion to find Saddam. What I am proposing is to locate Maduro and send a JDAM to him.
A more relevant case study is the war between Israel and Hezbollah, where targeting senior leadership worked. Israel killed two successive leaders until they found someone willing to sign a surrender in all but name, and ceased the rocket attacks. This would not have been possible in the early 2000s.
Yes, targeting senior leadership was exactly what the Bush administration attempted in Iraq. And they were hugely successful at it! The problem was never that the firepower was underwhelming...
A more relevant case study is the war between Israel and Hezbollah, where targeting senior leadership worked. Israel killed two successive leaders until they found someone willing to sign a surrender in all but name, and ceased the rocket attacks. This would not have been possible in the early 2000s.