Anatomy of Deceit: An American Physician's First-Hand Encounter with the Realities of the War in Croatia

Jerry Blaskovich's superb book is based on his own experience of the Serbian invasion, occupation, and ethnic cleansing of no less than one third of Croatia. Much of the horrors he relates are genuinely disturbing. Apart from his own experiences, he takes time to debunk all sorts of nonsense put out by the Serbs. It should be remembered that the Serbs had control of the propaganda machinery in Yugoslavia; Croatia therefore had none. As a consequence, many naïve journalists and politicians went to Yugoslav sources for information, completely unaware of the fact that such sources were in fact Serbian ones. Hence the bizarre myths such as "Serbs fought the Nazis", "all sides guilty", "Serbs persecuted in Croatia" etc. These were deployed against the Croats to prevent western intervention, so that genocide and ethnic cleansing could proceed apace to create an obscene Nazi style "Greater Serbia" state. Blaskovich gives full details of all the various propaganda scams. The fact that the Yugoslav Army was Serbian controlled and that Croatia (weaponless) did not invade Serbia gives the game away as to who the aggressor was in the war; Blaskovich also elaborates on the Serb dominated nature of the old Yugoslavia.Despite the horrors he describes, this is ultimately a positive work. There is much energy in this book, enthusiasm for Croatia and a forceful rebuttal of propaganda. As such, it most readable.This is a truthful book. To verify its accuracy, I strongly recommend Marcus Tanner's " Croatia : A Nation Forged in War" As Mr Tanner is British, his impartiality is not in doubt.

In "Anatomy of Deceit" Jerry Blaskovich offers a genuine and engaging account of how he experienced the war in Croatia. Blaskovich is particularly concerned to witness how he encountered several dramatic events. Accordingly, his narrative is personal and direct. This makes "Anatomy of Deceit" highly readable and absorbing. Furthermore, because of his attention to detail and his commitment to facts, Blaskovich's work also constitutes an important historical document. His knowledge of forensic matters as well as of particular events (the massacre of Vocin) is rare. Finally, Blaskovich's pragmatic criticism of the international community as well as the Croatian response to the war is refreshing and helpful. I believe that his critique of the political omissions that were made can serve as a lesson for many fledgling nations as well as those concerned with conflict management. In this sense, "Anatomy of Deceit" is valuable not only as an excellent introduction to the events of 1991 but also as a source of insights for the modern policymaker.As a Croatian, I am aware that my reaction to the book will be biased. In my assessment of its qualities, however, I have attempted to bring out its strengths as a text. Also, it seems to me undeniable that Blaskovich is very knowledgeable and that he is a strong writer. These are criteria by which a work like his should be judged. I have found them little addressed in some other reviews on this webpage. That is why I feel compelled to strongly recommend "Anatomy of Deceit" to the interested reader.

Finally a clear description of the 'whys' of the Balkan War. Somehow SlobodanMilosevic,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 civilian men, women and children were slaughtered, and in the case of the women, raped as recreation by Serb paramilitary soldiers (thugs) in order to bear Serbian children or be killed and cast away if they had become useless. It was a gruesome but fitting fate the world was made to believe.It took five years for the west to mount a tepid response that resulted in the Dayton Accords, rewarding Serbian violence with half of Bosnia.Dr.Blaskovich rips away the fictions and myths so adroitly put in place by a canny Serb PR machine(they hired Saatchi & Saatchi among others) fictions maintained and reinforced with the dedicated help of Kissinger Associates who had a vested interest in Serbian victory. As medical doctor who had devoted his life to medicine, scholarship and teaching at USC, Dr.Blaskovich saw first hand the atrocities visited on these unprotected populations targeted for extinction. He could not remain silent, and began an intensive examination of this shameful chapter in modern western history. Why did the world allow this atrocity? Read 'Anatomy of Deceit' for the truths our press ignored or failed to grasp. (The State Department knew. Five career diplomats quit in disgust - a historical first.) Milosevic continues his wars of aggression today 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 of civilization, Milosovic remains unindicted and hailed by some as a 'peacemaker.'

International Journal of Dermatology, August 1998 "...The genocide, the pathos, and the grim details of war are recounted with objectivity and compassion. The author is an excellent war correspondent and medical journalist."

Dr. Jerry Blaskovich was a southern California physician who had studied at the University of Zagreb in the 1960s. He considered himself to be apolitical and most of his information about events in the former Yugoslavia came from the media. Like most Americans, he believed that the news media were generally fair and accurate in reporting the news from around the world. He was thus unprepared for the magnitude and savagery of the Yugoslav People's Army attack on unarmed Croatia in 1991. In forty-four hours he was transformed from a comfortable southern California dermatologist to a front-line combat pathologist and criminal medical examiner. Blaskovich went to Croatia in December 1991 looking for evidence of poison gas attacks. He found none. What he did find, widespread massacres, mutilation, and murder, bothered him more. Some parts of this book will no doubt bother many readers, less for the gruesome subject matter than the coldly clinical descriptions that only a trained medical professional can give. Blaskovich's details come not from research or rumor, but from experience. Many of the conclusions about genocide and mass murder that were reached in 1992 by Blaskovich are only now being confirmed by the United Nations and other authorities. Unlike so many books that have been written over the past six years about the wars in the former Yugoslavia, Anatomy of Deceit 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 on the front lines, in refugee camps, in the hospitals, and in the morgues and makeshift furial grounds. His story is at once informative, sickening, and riveting. It is a true personal chronicle of one man's transformation and the world's transformation into the grim realities of the "New World Order."