The U.S. prepares potential military options for the country of Liberia. In the past few days, it has been reported that President Bush is thinking about deploying a limited number of troops to the African country of Liberia as the head of an international peacekeeping mission in the civil-war-beaten country.
I hold that it is morally obscene to endanger the life of one single American soldier in order to “assist” any country in which we have absolutely no self-interest in doing so.
Every human being, by their very nature as a human being, has one fundamental right: the right to their own life. This means, they have the right to use their own mind and be free from physical compulsion, as long as they respect that right of everyone else. The purpose of a proper government, is to protect this fundamental right (not to provide it). Three institutions, and three institutions alone, perform this function:
1. the military: to protect individuals from foreign countries who initiate the use of force against them
2. the police: to protect individuals from criminals who initiate the use of force against them
3. the objective court system: to protect contractual agreements between two or more individuals and to prosecute those who initiate the use of force
Any other institution of government would violate an individual’s fundamental right to his own life.
Therefore, determining whether or not we should put American soldiers at risk ultimately comes down to the question, does it serve the purpose of protecting American citizens from foreign countries who either initiate or threaten the use of force against them?
Is the government of Liberia any threat to the United States? From the relevant evidence so far, absolutely not. My conclusion therefore, is that it is completely wrong for our government to threaten the life of one single American soldier by sending them to Liberia.
Is it ever morally justifiable to assist another country militarily? Yes, but only when the given country (or a rebel aspect of the given country) completely recognizes individual rights and the idea that the only proper interaction between individuals (and thus nations as well) is that of voluntary trade. Liberia, along with many other African nations, represent the backward tribal savages of centuries past. They are riddled with dictators, murderers, and terrorists. We have absolutely no self-interest in militarily aiding any of them.
Many people (including our government on many occasions) say that it is right to send American soldiers to places such as Liberia, Somalia, Bosnia, Serbia, etc., in order to prevent mass death and genocide. I maintain two very important principles on this issue:
1. no amount of U.S. troops will change the backwards ideologies of these countries that are causing mass death and genocide
2. it is completely wrong for the life of one single American soldier to be threatened in combat for the purpose of sacrficing themselves to others
President Bush: do not send troops to Liberia, or any country like it. Pull our troops out of countries in which their presence there has absolutely no relevance to the purpose of our military: to protect the fundamental right of every American citizen: the right to their own life.
