Arguably the first Gulf War. The US successfully protected it's economic interest and expanded its military establishment in the region.

And liberated the Kuwaiti people from scud missiles, invasion, and occupation from a brutal Saddam regime? That's a pretty important benefit to miss, but maybe you're just limiting it to benefits for a US citizen. (of which selfless ones would consider it a benefit)

That is indeed the perspective I was looking at if from. But you are right.

People who don't go to war always gained from war. Lots of jobs. The post-WWII afterglow is when we defined our middle-class mythologies. The good old days.

The US had 419K deaths from WWII. That's like half as much as covid thus far. Americans like to go to war because they sacrifice nothing. It's a game.

One problem with all these reviews is that we can’t see the counter factual. That said I agree Iraq war was likely a very bad thing for our country and certainly is responsible for much of our internal strife right now.