Sept. 18, 2001

MARINA DEL REY, CA--The United States had the moral right years ago to declare war when Osama bin Laden and sundry Islamic thugs started a holy war against America, said Dr. Gary Hull, ethics professor at Duke University and senior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute. After the massacre on September 11, our government has a moral obligation to wage a full-scale war on all terrorist countries, such as Iraq, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan.

Dr. Hull explained: The basic moral principles of a civilized country are individualism, which means that each man's life is an end-in-itself and that no man may be treated as a sacrificial lamb--and freedom, which means that no man may initiate the use of physical force. When a barbarian or a dictatorship uses force--as opposed to persuasion and voluntary cooperation--to achieve their ends, they forfeit their right to live.

The goal of terrorist governments is the annihilation of capitalism, of science, of freedom--of America. To protect the lives of Americans and the future of Western civilization, our government is morally obligated to use the power of our military, including nuclear weapons, until those governments and their terrorist nests are eradicated. That is the righteous use of force. Anything less--any hint of pacifism or of concern for innocents or of a measured response--is an immoral capitulation to savagery.