Elvis,
I am aware that internally corrupt ideologies have a tendency to fall over the long term without outside military intervention. But, you have to admit there’s a tradeoff between not doing anything versus doing something to hasten the fall, in terms of how long it takes. According to this theory, Saddam would have fallen eventually. The problem is that in the decades that took, the cost of containing him would also add up. Oh, there’d have been fewer gruesome headlines, but more costs for, e.g. monitoring troop movements within Iraq. The question then becomes would you rather pay a small amount for a long time or a large amount for a short time.
Add in to the mix the fact that, whether Saddam had it or not, WMD technology is floating around, and time becomes a much worse enemy, making the cost of trying to wait out a Saddam’s collapse much riskier.
The reason I used the “Night of the Long Knives” example is because it fits the principle that extremists can drive out moderates, especially if the extremists exhibit more ideological purity than the moderates and the ideology they are following is anti-democratic.
