Flawed logic
I could just as well claim that the experience and knowledge gained fighting the Iraq war will save X American lives in a future conflict. Or that Saddam's removal from power will save 500,000 (or pick a number) of lives over the next decade, due to a sudden halt in the mass grave digging business in Iraq. Any human activity, not just military, carries with it risk, and so does inactivity, which in the case of the international community certainly contributed (or more accurately failed to prevent) the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis over the past 25 years.