Symptoms vs underlying problems

Wallace compares Bush's Middle East policies to A Clockwork Orange. Are we trying to deal with the problems, or just dealing with the symptoms? Whatever we're doing we're not doing particularly well, but it's still a relevant question.
On a related topic, I love it when people say we can't pull out of Iraq because it will become a terrorist hotbed. What do these people think it is now? I'm pretty sure I support staying through the election since it's so close and offers some hope, but pulling out 6 months ago or two months from now would have been/would be very good ideas. The longer we stay, the more we're hitting a beehive with a stick.