With such a big draw, I too would take the small ball line on the flop. When he leads the turn, it becomes player dependant to some degree - is he bluffing, or betting to inflate the pot for value.... if you raise here, you may make him fold a better hand which is always nice, but then you won"t get the added value of a river bet should you monster draw get there. You also re-open the betting to allow him to shove, and i don"t think you"re ever calling a shove in this spot..... so imo flatting flop and turn in position is fine.
when he checks the river, I agree with your view that you rarely have the best hand here and can"t win with a check behind, so a bet to steal is fine. The call/call/bet line doesn"t look particularly strong, and most thinking players (and all fish) will call your river bet with marginal hands assuming the river didn"t improve the draws.
EDIT: If the suits in your hand were the other way round, I be doing all that I could to get the lot in on the flop.