No veteran wants or should be "idolized". Your word not mine. 
Every Veteran, combat or otherwise is deserving of respect.

It is interesting that you parse out Veterans by the specific war or generation they lived through. Your research is faulty and your opinion not fully informed if you think no war ever fought by Americans didn't have some component, alleged or actual, of the "policies carried out for financial gain for the ....elite" or "sustaining the Military Industrial Complex" you so cavalierly throw out. 

Vet's do not expect, demand or need your thanks. You do not appear to have any real appreciation for the freedoms afforded to you, protected by our constitution, which in turn is protected by our "Military Industrial Complex". Ergo your "Thanks" would be meaningless in any case. 

All Vets, past present and I pray future, served precisely for you to have the freedom without fear to say everything you have said. 
So, from this Vet, you are still "Welcome".