Does the United States have the moral right to defend itself?
Normally, there would be no discussion of such a question, in peace or in war. Most men know that the right to self-defense is a moral right. Without the right to self-defense, the right to life is meaningless. But today, in the context of the September 11 attack on the United States, there are those who answer the above question in the negative. Such people seek to condemn the United States. They claim that we have acted as an international “bully”—ignoring the fact that it is not we who initiated force against others. They claim that our economic productivity is equivalent to being politically aggressive—ignoring the fact that economic strength is the result of the creation of values but political power is backed by force of guns. They imply that our wealth is tainted—ignoring the fact that the United States is the only nation in history to have earned its wealth by production, not conquest, confiscation or destruction. “No, we have no moral right to defend ourselves,” is implied in
