Every man’s business must be done according to his own mind: and if this be true in particular persons, it is more plainly so in whole nations.
—Algernon Sidney. Discourses Concerning Government, 1689.
A country’s motivation is its own concern, but the righteousness of its actions is the concern of all. Some people claimed America’s 2003 invasion of Iraq was immoral because “it was all about the oil.” Even if that were true, motivation does not determine righteousness, and no excuse is ever needed to dismantle a tyranny. It is always a service to mankind. As Ayn Rand explained:
Dictatorship nations are outlaws. Any free nation had the right to invade Nazi Germany and, today, has the right to invade Soviet Russia, Cuba or any other slave pen. Whether a free nation chooses to do so or not is a matter of its own self-interest, not of respect for the nonexistent ‘rights’ of gang rulers. It is not a free nation’s duty to liberate other nations at the price of self-sacrifice, but a free nation has the right to do so, when and if it so chooses. (The Objectivist, 1962.)
