Pray, tell me again - why did we go there?

In Iraq, we did not find the purported weapons of mass destruction, we did manage to have thousands upon thousands of American and Iraqis killed in the mindless war that ensued, managed to maim (for life) hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, managed to effortlessly spend over a trillion ($1,000,000,000,000.00) dollars under fancy sounding categories that includes 'reparation' and 'reconstruction' - the list goes on - One might think that at the very least American companies have their foothold in Iraq with respect to lucrative business deals that stem as part of the recovery... well, think again...

The NYT reports: America’s war in Iraq has been good for business in Iraq — but not necessarily for American business. American companies are not seeing much lasting benefit from their country’s investment in Iraq. Some American businesses have calculated that the high security costs and fear of violence make Iraq a business no-go area. Even those who are interested and want to come are hampered by American companies’ reputation here for overcharging and shoddy workmanship, an outgrowth of the first years of the occupation, and a lasting and widespread anti-Americanism. ...Indeed, even those companies that prospered during the war and occupation, including many of the big military contractors, will simply leave with the United States military as it completes its pullout over the next two years. ...Now, Iraq is doling out its own oil-financed funds for capital projects, and American companies have so far received surprisingly little of it. Sports City, a billion-dollar complex of stadiums and housing in Basra planned for the Gulf Games in 2013, was awarded to an Iraqi general contractor, Al Jiburi Construction, over 60 other bidders, many of them American. ...Last month, FedEx, which had been flying packages in and out of Iraq since 2004, announced it was suspending its operations. The reason is that Iraqi officials gave RusAir, a Russian airline, exclusive rights to cargo flights.