Very true, I'm sure that was a MAJOR part of the decision to go to war, but I was referring to ancillary national benefits like: 1) Increased military presence

Very true, I'm sure that was a MAJOR part of the decision to go to war, but I was referring to ancillary national benefits like: 1) Increased military presence allowing us to extend our economic power to the region. 2) Increased perception of our willingness to engage in war, reducing other nations willingness to increase tariffs on the USA or argue with our own. 3) Stronger hold on oil producing regions, reducing OPEC and Iranian influence on energy production. 4) Intimidation of nations willing to engage in war on our military and economic allies. 5) Etc...