Well, I'm pretty sure that the reason for the gold bars and their weight was that while you could take some, you always had to leave some of these precious objects behind, barring exploits of course. As for the vending machines, they were more foreshadowing of Big MT than anything else.
The soldiers don't invade countries by choice, so no I don't mean them, the occupiers are the ones that give the orders and use the military as their muscle to do so, i.e.
I watched House of Saddam, a docudrama from the UK and got an idea of how Iraq was before the first Desert Storm, and how coalition sanctions ruined that country, and I have no sympathy for the occupiers.
Definitely agree, I remember being damn greedy for Daedric items, even going as far as raiding the Great House vaults in Vivec and exploiting a summon Dremora bug.