Thing is civilian leaders have to maintain their support in public. No matter how corrupt they are they can't do things unanimously without hue and cry due to opposition and other political parties. Its different with a dictator in place. Do you think if a political GOVT could have pulled the decision so easily dictators pulled? Let it be siding with USA against Russia in cold war, getting itself involved in a proxy war and then totally abandoning your supported regimes in Afghanistan. All these things happen when there were dictators in place.