Whoever thought, before the U.S. invaded, that bringing peace and tranquility to Iraq would be a simple task was wildly wrong. But is it an impossible task?

More than 60 years ago, during World War II, Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower didn’t think that his similar, even more daunting, mission was impossible. By the time he had completed his crusade in Europe and thanked his staff for a job well done at a farewell ceremony in Frankfurt in July 1945, the German army, or Wehrmacht, no longer existed, Hitler was dead, the Nazi Party had been dissolved, war criminals were behind bars awaiting trial and retribution, de-Nazification had begun, and western Germany — the part not occupied by the Soviet army — was on its way to becoming one of the most successful liberal democracies of the Western world.

So writes David Stafford in Sunday’s Washington Post. Stafford is the author of Endgame 1945: The Missing Final Chapter of World War II. He finds in Iraq “poignant echoes of the post-WWII experience” and wonders if we could have avoided major mistakes by paying more attention to that historical episode. But he also finds “some small crumb of comfort for optimists” and notes that it

is too soon to declare that the mission has failed. Sen. John McCain’s 100-year horizon for a U.S. presence in Iraq may be stretching things. But let’s not forget that the postwar occupation of Germany lasted for a full decade.

Iraq, as Stafford notes, is vastly different from the conquered Germany of 1945. But still, the parallel is compelling.

Rebuilding a nation is possible. But even in the best of circumstances, it takes effort, time, patience and pragmatism. As 1945 confirms, liberation from a dictator in itself offers no easy path to peace or democracy. Battlefield victory is the easy bit. Building peace is a constant struggle — and it’s a matter of years, not weeks.

Stafford’s reminder of the difficulties we as a nation faced in the past is vitally important. The question of the day: will the U.S. stay in Iraq for the years needed to finish the job?