I mean, its pretty obvious that we did it not for counter terrorism. I don't even think it was mostly for oil, even though we could easily tap their oil resources in an emergency, I'm sure we have a special deal with the Iraq government for such a measure. I believe it was a simple power grab to establish a military foothold in the middle east. Now we're right in the middle of every major middle eastern country, and we can have MAJOR power leverage, even more than before, in the region. Especially with a major sea port to the south, were our carriers can loiter.