Musings of a Mumbai bloke

"With his (Saddam Husein's) capture, we exhale, after a long, deep breath we have held for a year" writes Nancy Gibbs in cover story on the latest Time magazine. "We can measure the meaning of his capture by the measures we have taken — old alliances and long traditions discarded to go to war to take him out and, in the name of democracy, a war that was opposed by vast majorities in most democracies on earth. Hundreds of soldiers killed, hundreds more wounded, $4 billion a month spent and billions more to come, a country broken in pieces that we will be helping rebuild for years to come. And so what is the gift this capture has brought?...."

Exactly what is the gift this capture has brought? What can be legitimate reasons for a democratic country to launch such an attack on another country?