Firmage is on the mark

Ed Firmage expertly explained the insanity, butchery, futility and even criminality of the current Iraq war (My View, Dec. 12). He could have added a comment about the illegality of the executive branch fighting a war that Congress never declared. His final comment, "This is still a rule of law community" masks the hypocrisy of the United States attempting to create a democracy in Iraq. We ceased to be a true democratic republic when Congress allowed the Supreme Court to usurp its sole power to create the laws. Today, Congress passes "recommendations" for the president to sign that aren't valid unless five out of nine kinglike Supreme rulers say it is. What's democratic about that?

Byron Gibbs

Salt Lake City