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(E) ANATOMY OF DECEIT by Jerry Blaskovich
By Nenad N. Bach | Published  05/10/2004 | History | Unrated
(E) ANATOMY OF DECEIT by Jerry Blaskovich

 

ANATOMY OF DECEIT

by Jerry Blaskovic, M.D.


Have you ever heard of Dr. Jerry Blaskovich? Well, he is an outstanding Croatian Doctor that went to Croatia during the war, to help and give everything he could. He wrote an account of what happened in a book called Anatomy of Deceit. I hope that you have had the opportunity to read these true accounts of the misery that Croatians had to endure, and the murders by the Serbs. I was wondering if you could post his website on your website or have a link? I firmly believe that all Croatians need to read this documentary account of the truths that happened. I can only hope that Ms. Carla Del Ponte can put her bias aside and read this book also, and realize that this war is not on equal standing, and to stop accusing Croatians of genocide, when still Karadzic and Maldic are free.

http://www.jblaskovich.com/

ANATOMY OF DECEIT:
An American Physician's First Hand Encounter
With The Realities of The War In Croatia
by Jerry Blaskovich, M.D.

Thank you again for taking your time to take care of this website, I truly love it!

Thank you,
Michelle Dunaj

 

The author welcomes your email comments: jblaskovich@hotmail.com

Reviews
Croatian Medical Journal - December 1998 (Volume 38, Number 4)
Book Review
A Beacon for Croatian Intellectuals:
Blaskovich J. Anatomy of Deceit. An American Physician’s First-hand Encounter with the Realities of the Warin Croatia.
New York: Dunhill Publishing, Co., 1997. 247 pages, hard cover. ISBN 0-935016-24-4. Price: US$24.

 

Jerry Blaskovich is a US physician of Croatian origin, Zagreb University School of Medicine graduate, KoreanWar veteran, Diplomat of the American Board of Dermatology, devoted member of the World Association of Croatian Physicians, and, as he has recently convinced us, a great author. During the 1991-1995 war in Croatia, nobody had to tell Dr Blaskovich where to go, what to do, whom to help, and what to write. Althoughliving in California, Jerry knew what his homeland needed, what tasks suited his abilities, what pressure hisfamily was able to go through, and what his health and strength allowed him to do. Being a doctor and anintellectual, he did not opt for playing shallow politics, futile heroism, or hypocritical humanism. Croatianeeded intellectuals-soldiers, and Jerry, among the few of them, became one of the most successful. I wasacquainted with his assistance to war-ravaged Croatia, with his love, care, concerns and efforts. Many otherhave offered all this too but Jerry is special for writing about it. When the aggression against Croatiacommenced, accompanied by a powerful Serbian propaganda, hypocrisy, and deceit of internationalcommunity, Jerry Blaskovich, a dermatology professor in his early fifties, took a university course increative writing to be able to respond to innumerable anti-Croatian articles published in the US newspapersand journals. Despite the animosity towards anything Croatian in the western media (really familiar only tothose who attempted to talk/write to them), Jerry published over 100 rebuttals to lies and vicious accusationsof Croatia during the war. This alone calls for admiration and recognition as an unsurpassed achievement inthe Croatian recent history. However, this did not satisfy Jerry Blaskovich: after the war, he embarked onwriting a book on the war in Croatia, a first-hand encounter with the realities of suffering, injustice, hypocrisy,deceit.


This book is completely in line with Jerry’s other works, his erudition, and experience. It is written for anAmerican reader, and thus has a typical personal touch, fluency, and comprehensive approach which makesit easily readable, interesting, and even exciting. It begins with Dr Blaskovich’s involvement in forensicinvestigation of the Voæin massacre (80 executed Croatian civilians), but soon turns into a description andanalysis of the unwillingness of the western media to report the event. This develops into a description andanalysis of the reasons for a refusal of the media to report on any Croatian sufferings in the war, and theninto the analysis of the entire Serbian aggression against Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Jerrywas thus involved with the analysis of international politics, and, being an American, he knew more than thosemost informed living in Croatia. It was fascinating to read about the disgraceful background of actions andstatements of many important political figures who were deciding people’s destinies in the area. It was alsodiscouraging that the old sayings proved to be true: great nations find their interests more important than ourlives, many people consider money and position more important than justice and fairness. The lecture DrBlaskovich teaches us should not be only remembered, but also given a serious consideration and scientificanalysis, especially by the Croatian intellectuals and experts.

I particularly enjoyed Dr Blaskovich’s description and explanation of the fact that a large number of Croatianphysicians took the leading roles in the state and society after the free elections and especially in the war(chapter Physicians, Leaders by Default). A touch of humor, but not at the expense of the depth of analysisand soundness of facts, can be found in the author’s description of the first steps of the infant Croatiandemocracy and changing of political views of Croatian emigrants in San Pedro. Dr Blaskovich nicelydemonstrates his ability of succinctly describing and thoroughly analyzing reactions of the presidents ofstates, ministers, generals, but also of the refugee women, and even a basketball player. Each of thesestories has the same goal: revealing the truth about the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thisbook is, more than anything else, a book about the truth (there are a few incorrect numbers, but they areobviously typing errors). The truth is written for a foreigner – simple, interesting, and general but also for anexpert, because the book provides relevant arguments revealing the appropriate background, and touchingthe right points.

The revelation of truth is not the only, and even not the key point of  the book: it is a Croatian testimony, andevery one of those who have experienced the events will be able to explain and support its every detail,every standpoint. Blaskovich’s book should be considered our starting point, in at least two extremelyimportant aspects: a) this is a Croatian story, b) this is an example of what Croatian intellectuals should bedoing. Those who were late for joining the war should not be sorry (but happy) that the war ended and will notrepeat: there is a lot more to be done, in every aspect of the Croatian history, values, achievements, wardefeats and victories, culture, science, education, future. An intellectual – a writer, scientist, physician, orother – does not have to defend his country with a gun in trenches, and does not have to sell his/her soul fora position, political or other; one should do what he/she does best. I believe that with Jerry Blaskovich theCroatian story only started marching through the jungle of the western public information system, and hopethat other experts will follow his example.Matko Marušic

International Journal of Dermatology: "The genocide, the pathos,and the grim details of war arerecounted with objectivity and compassion. The author is an excellent war correspondent and  medicaljournalist."

Anthony M. Mlikotin: Professor Emeritus, former Chairman of Slavic and Comparative Literature;
University of Southern California:  
 In spite of the apocalyptic tone, the book is written in the style of anodyessy, lyrical tone of narration prevails from the beginning to the end. Through as the evidence in everyinstance is, the style lifts the book from the dullness of discursive prose tothe inspiring regions of the genre offiction...This book will be read even after the events of the war years in Croatia and Bosnia have sunk intooblivion."

PENINSULA PEOPLE:The antagonism between Serbs, Croats, and Bosnian Muslims runs deep, and to makeheads or tails out of the true causes of the bloody fueds is a formidable task Anatomy of Deceit is an attemptto set some records straight.

Muhamed Sacirbey: Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Bosnia-Herzegovina to the United Nations:
"Anatomy of Deceit undertakes a serious and most necessary review of how media and official factorsmanipulate raw information...My continuing official responsibilities curtail me from pronouncing a finaljudgment on Dr. Blaskovich's conclusions. Nonetheless, Dr  Blaskovich's presentation of the facts aresupported by many of my first hand observations and one can reach their own judgment on that basis."

Los Angeles Times: "Clearly written to inform, not sensationalize, the atrocities detailed sends the reader tothe tissue box asking, "How can one human being do this to another?"

Irene B. Bierman, Ph.D., Director Gustave von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies: UCLA:
"His book has three parts: the physical events of the Serbian military action; broken, mutilated bodies,hospitals under siege, Croatian and Bosnian victims of programmed torture and rape. These hate killed actsare documented by medical investigations, including autopsies.
Second, the realization that the international media who witnessed the same unspeakable horrors would notspeak of them or write of them: persuaded themselves and the world that the Serbs were guiltless and that theCroats, even women and children and the elderly, were not victims of hate-filled violence, but simply warcasualties."

American Croatian Review: "We believe Dr. Blaskovich's book is destined to become the seminal piece thetruth puzzle about the former Yugoslavia."

jnmir@aol.com from San Diego, California. "A very candid and refreshing view on a complex issue.I foundthis book to be very clear and concise in dealing with the recent issues in the Balkan regions. Too often, thepress gives a one-sided or watered down view of current events. Dr. Blaskovich has provided his readers withan eyewitness account which brings the atrocities of war into the reality of the reader.

mcadams@usfca.edu from San Francisco CA, is not the work of an armchair "expert" or that of a journalist-turned-historian who paid a brief visit to the region. Anatomy of Deceit is the product of a lifetime of education,a knowledge of the language and cultures of Croatia and Bosnia, and the product of one who has been onthe front lines, in refugee camps, in the hospitals, and in the morgues and makeshift burial grounds. His storyis at once infomative, sickening, and riveting. It is a true personal chronicle of one man's transformation andthe world's transformation into the grim realities of the "New World Order."

drenner@apc.net from Laguna Beach, CA, Finally a clear description of the "whys" of the Balkan War.Somehow Slobodan Milosevic, iron handed ruler of Serbia, also known as the Butcher of the Balkans,convinced the governments of the civilized world not to interfere while 250,000 Croat and Bosnian civilianmen, women and children were slaughtered, and in the case of the women, raped as recreation by Serbparamilitary soldiers (thugs) in order to bear Serbian children or be killed and cast away if they had becomeuseless. It was a gruesome but fitting fate the world was made to believe. It took five years for the west tomount a tepid response that resulted in the Dayton Accords awarding Serbian violence with half of Bosnia. Dr.Jerry Blaskovich rips away the fictions and myths so adroitly put in place by a canny Serb PR machine (theyhired Saatchi and Saatchi in London among others), fictions maintained and reinforced with the dedicatedhelp of Kissinger Associates who had a vested interest in Serbian victory. As a medical doctor who haddevoted his life to medicine, scholarship and teaching at USC, Dr. Blaskovich saw first hand the atrocitiesvisited on these unprotected populations targeted for extinction. He could not remain silent, and began anintensive examination of this shameful chapter in modern western history. Why did the world allow thisatrocity? Read "Anatomy of Deceit" for the truths our press ignored or failed to grasp. (The State Departmentknew. Five career diplomats quit in disgust - a historical first.) Milosevic continues his wars of aggressiontoday as his thugs kill Albanian civilians, including children, in Kosovo - a program he set in motion in 1989,two years before his attacks against Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia. Although a war criminal by any standard ofcivilization, Milosovic remains unindicted and hailed by some as a "peacemaker."
 

Those who wish to purchase an autographed hard cover copy of the book please click here.

 

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