[Reader-list] Disproportion and the Justification of War

[Mansour Aziz]

Dear Shuddha,

It is indeed ironic. I was quite uncomfortable with the use of the  
same terminology for descriptive text we had been drafting for the  
mapping project (lebanonmaps.org). Not incidentally, the woman who  
used the term in one of the drafts is a human rights activist.

But besides my reservation, and my general agreement with you  
regarding your moral position towards war, the word serves two  
purposes. One is to assert the indisputable and highly distorted fact  
that it is indeed a disproportionate war. Many right-wing Israeli  
commentators are going mad because they just don't understand why "we  
can't crush those few thousand mosquitos". I have been appalled with  
American and European coverage of the war, with notable exceptions,  
as if it were roughly two equal sides. The other issue is the simple  
fact that there's an international law -- whether we like it or not  
-- and it is through this legal (and moral) framework, once can hold  
this party or that accountable for their actions.

I send you my warmest greetings.

M.




On Aug 4, 2006, at 11:30 AM, Shuddhabrata Sengupta wrote:

> Dear Monica Mody, Jamie, Iram and others on the list
>
> As one of the signatories to this petition, I am clearly one of the
> people who overlooked the significance of the qualifying word,
> 'disproportionate'. I would like to thank Iram for pointing out the
> irony in protesting against the idea of 'proportion' while thinking
> about a state of war.
>