Thanks to Bush, the GOP and many Democratic legislators there is actually no way of getting out of Iraq, except very very slowly over time. I regret this as much as anyone but we have allowed our country to be tied up in this problem over the last eight years and it will not be easy or nice to extricate ourselves therefrom.

Obama will, if elected, have to get real.

Norman Ravitch

Savannah, GA

I still blame the mainstream media for the lack of any concentrated effort by either candidate to construct a real, viable end to the occupation. I just overheard a report from CNN correspondent Michael Ware discussing Obama's plan to visit Iraq before the election. Ware insisted that there is "very little Iraqi support" for an immediate American withdrawal. This is not a distortion, nor is it an attempt to simply "mislead" the public--it is an out-and-out lie. It dismisses the evidence of many polls over the past year that indicate three-quarters of Iraqis want Americans to begin leaving--today. And this is the dangerous and deadly perception most Americans will take away from watching CNN.

John Giarratana

Jersey City, NJ