In rare circumstances, the United States has justification to engage in unilateral military action overseas if the nation's security is directly threatened by the country being militarily aggressed. However, unilateral action is only necessary when it is very direct and does not become excessive in regards to the number of countries and people assailed, as well as the intensity of the military measures being taken. For example, Operation Iraqi Freedom, which began March of 2003, was a not a justified unilateral attack because the U.S. had already defeated the Taliban in Afghanistan (which had harbored those responsible for the 9/11 attacks, such as al-Qaeda) during the earlier Operation Enduring Freedom, and Iraq was not a direct threat to
