Many expected us to leave Germany and Japan after WWII, so if we invade some where, we'll have to rebuild it too. Remember that! ;-)
I was not clear in my post. I'm not advocating the invasion of Iran. My thought process is a bit closer to the destruction of Iran - not the people per se, but the government, military and weapons programs. That may or may not require soldiers on the ground.
With that said, there is a difference between the people that live in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, etc. than the people who lived in Germany, Italy, and Japan at the end of WWII. The people of the axis powers were following their leaders. Through the invasion and replacement of the leadership of the axis powers we were able to set those nations on a path of peace.
There is a different problem that exists in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, etc. We have a situation where a religion, Islam, is the source of the problem. And in some cases, Islam has embodied governments - Iran and Afghanistan. The on-going problems in Iraq are not the result of a people following a leader, but a people following a religion. Things will not change in these nations by changing governments. Islam is the constant that will exist no matter how many times a government is changed. This also means that terrorism will exist no matter how many times governments are changed and how many times we rebuild countries.
So I now stick out my neck and write something very unpopular: we are wasting our tax dollars in Iraq by rebuilding Iraq. I have zero confidence that a Muslim people will be able to exist in the modern world and not produce more terrorism. However, I am confident that Iraq will not be producing weapons of mass destruction that can be used by terrorists.
How can I be confident that Iran is not producing WMD's? When Iran is destroyed. How can I be confident that Iran is not aiding terrorism? When Iran is destroyed. Rebuilding Iran would only allows a Muslim people to more rapidly meet their goal of destroying the West.
The best policy would be to destroy these governments, their militaries, their weapons programs and infrastructure. We should confiscate their riches to help pay for our military. We should confiscate their oil to insure stability in our economy. When these people are properly placed in poverty they will not have the means to export terrorism. That is the long term solution to the terrorism problem. Poverty, not prosperity. Rebuilding leads to prosperity - theirs, not ours.