Iraqis Have No Right to a Dictatorship
By David Holcberg (May 5, 2003)

Hoping to see an Islamic theocracy take hold in Iraq, Iran's mullahs are claiming that Iraqis have "the right to determine what government they want." But Iraqis have no such right if the government they want is a dictatorship--religious or secular.

As Ayn Rand explained: "The right of 'the self-determination of nations' applies only to free societies or to societies seeking to establish freedom; it does not apply to dictatorships. Just as an individual's right of free action does not include the 'right' to commit crimes (that is, to violate the rights of others), so the right of a nation to determine its own form of government does not include the right to establish a slave society (that is, to legalize the enslavement of some men by others). There is no such thing as 'the right to enslave.' A nation can do it, just as a man can become a criminal--but neither can do it by right."