Should We Leave Iraq? a second look

I used to say we had to stay in Iraq or risk leaving a failed state like Afghanistan after the Soviet war, which bred Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden. I stand by that assessment, but heard on a podcast last night that areas we've cleared have become more targeted by insurgents. Apparently it's not just Wack-A-Mole for us, it is for them too. Only what pops up for them are safer areas, controlled areas. So a place like Talafar, which was the Administration's flagship of success, fell back to chaos pretty quickly because it was the flagship of success. The attackers zoomed in on it and took it back down. And if that's the case, well, damn. I guess we can't stay to help rebuild the country we broke if they smash everything back up as soon as the glue sets. However, I still think that we need to keep a close eye on them, not forget about them like we did Afghanistan (the first time... oh, and then the second time... damn...), and not like we did with Lebanon, who got democracy and then we just left them to the wolves.