You have raised an excellent point. Iraq is poised on the cusp of a tremendous potential opportunity to become what I have referred to as "the Jewel of the Middle-East". Just as the spark existed there six-thousand years ago in what we call the "Fertile Crescent" where the beginning of human civilization occurred, there is now also a fortuitous confluence of factors that could spark a similar rebirth of human achievement.
There are huge problems and obstacles to overcome, but there are also the advantages of great natural wealth: large oil reserves, fertile soil and a climate advantageous for agriculture, and the abundance of water from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Not the least is the Iraqi peoples themselves. They are much better educated on the whole than the populations of other countries in the region, they have already had a taste of the benefits of cosmopolitan Western-style civiliation (even before the Ba'athists took over), and the decades of oppression they have endured since have left them with a hunger for the freedom and opportunity to build a better life once again for themselves and their children.
All this potential is admittedly hanging by a thread right now, and could be snuffed-out if we allow the enemies of freedom, (whether they call themselves Ba'athists, Islamicists, Democrats, or other totalitarian wannabes) to regain the upper hand. That glowing spark of renascent freedom and economic opportunity (*Note - those two things are inseparable) must be fanned until it can burn on its own.
That is why we must stay the course. Furthermore, since the only way we can fail is if we lose the battle here at home, what that really means is that losing that chance for freedom and opportunity for the Iraqis also means losing it for ourselves. It might take a little longer here, but the direction will be set, and the outcome inevitable.