Oil is only a portion of the billions worth the contracts awarded to American corporations in post-war nations.
They don't just want the resources, they want to own the entire infrastructure. Power, water, communications, transportation, you name it. Right down to the garbage removal. Ensuring the country stays in debt, ensures their compliance in future matters as well. Make a few powerful locals rich in the process, keep them in the US government's back pocket, and American corporate interests have a long bountiful future in store.
For a company to keep making money, they need to keep growing. There's no room to grow in America, so the corporations through which the majority of the nations money flow, keep on the government to open up new markets. The rich screaming for tax breaks, are the same ones pushing the government to ship your children over to the middle of nowhere and risk their lives so that they can continue to grow richer. Taxpayer dollars fund a government who puts the money towards the world's largest armed force, simply to expand the earnings of it's corporate giants. That's all there is to it.
So keep waving your flag Sally, as your economy "flounders", and your country rapes you so that McDonalds can expand into Iranian based Walmarts. America eats it's young. It does not give a fuck about you, but you best give a fuck about it! This is clearly American at it's finest, a bunch of stupid dogs chasing their tails while their masters laugh all the way to the bank...
Just sayin'