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a book Iīm reading; Bosnia during the war
Topic Started: Jan 20 2011, 11:28 AM (243 Views)
Optimistic
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HOLY CARP!!!
Iīm re-reading a book about Bosnia during the war, Love thy Neighbor: A Story of War, by Peter Maass. He was a reporter for the Washington Post at the time, and the book deals almost as much with the difficulties of being a journalist in the midst of war as it does with the war itself -- being in the company of horrible war criminals and having to remain neutral; walking into refugee/death camps to interview prisoners, realizing youīre putting their lives at risk by doing so, and walking out casually while they must remain behind to God only knows what kind of fate; being first-hand witness to the UN forces not only refusing to take action against the Serbs, but also going so far as leaking sensitive information on Bosnian troop movement in order to discourage them from fighting back, and shining spotlights on Bosnians trying to escape a besieged Sarajevo (who were then gunned down by Serbs).

Lots of horrors in the book, of course. Not that atrocities against humanity are ever easy to digest, but it is kind of unbelievable that all these things happened in Europeīs backyard, with everybody watching (including the Bosnians, watching the coverage of their own destruction on their televisions) and nobody doing anything for so long, despite the mass of information available.

The author interviewed the doctor in this little excerpt on the same day that President Clinton was speaking at the inauguration of the D.C. Holocaust Museum, warning that we must not permit mass deaths to occur, must not ignore similar crimes as they come to light. (The speech, btw, was also broadcast in Bosnia. Can you imagine?)

Quote:
 
Mujkanovic, who was in his late twenties but looked a decade older, sipped Turkish coffee and smoked American cigarettes, a potent mixture. He was a surgery intern in Tuzla when the war broke out, and because Srebrenica was desperate for medical help, the Bosnian Army infiltrated him there through the siege lines. It was a foolish five-day journey in which, for the final stretch, Mujkanovic and his escorts crawled at night past Serb soldiers, close enough to see the burning tips of their cigarettes. When he arrived in Srebrenica, all medical supplies had run out, even bandages and aspirin. There were 75,000 people in the town and just three general practitioners who were clueless about surgery. Mujkanovic taught them what he knew, which wasnīt much, and it didnīt take long for him to become an expert in medieval surgical practices, a Bosnian specialty.

When Mujkanovic amputated a limb, he coaxed the patients along by telling them it would be short, just hold on for another minute, be brave and stay still, donīt mind the boms, there we go, just a little bit more, only a few more slices on the bone, now weīre almost done. "Nobody held them down," Mujkanovic said. "They believe in me. And they knew it was the only way." Even so, many surgery patients died from blood loss or postoperative infection, for there were no antibiotics in Srebrenica. Instead of disinfectants, he washed wounds with boiling water. Instead of blood transfusion, he stiched arteries together as quickly as possible with sewing thread. Instead of surgical lights, he used candles. Instead of bandages, he used strips of bed sheets. Instead of decent food, Mujkanovic and his patients ate bean soup and bread made from straw. He performed 1.400 operations in nine months.

The townīs agony unfolded less than a few miles from Serb territory where there was plenty of medicine and food. Srebrenica was only a few hudred miles from Western Eurpoe, perhaps a thirty-minute plane ride away. As vacationers schussed down ski slopes in the Alps, and as diplomats sipped fine wines in Geneva, Mujkanovic tried to blot out the medieval screams of his doomed patients.


Not really sure why Iīm posting this. Itīs nothing new, most of you probably even remember hearing about this as it was happening and being appalled (I guess I was too
young for it to hit home then). Itīs just so shocking to read about the ugliness that governments will knowingly allow to happen when itīs not politically convenient for them to intervene. I mean, my God, one of the towns even transmitted a message begging the US to bomb their town and put them out of their misery. If that was the better evil, I canīt imagine the hell of the other.
PHOTOS

I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week, sometimes, to make it up.
- Mark Twain


We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-T. S. Eliot
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sue
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Man. I read the excerpts on the author's page. He doesn't pretty anything up, does he. Lest we forget.
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RosemaryTwo
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What powerful perspective.

"Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua
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RosemaryTwo
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I helped sponsor some lectures at law school during the conflict. Pittsburgh has a big Croation / Serbian population. There was so much animosity from the audience members. I remember being shocked at the vitriol. These people probably heard things from family members ....
"Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua
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Kincaid
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It would be interesting to read a history of the area and see where all that hatred and mercilessness comes from.

Reminds me of a Doonesbury cartoon about Iraq:

American soldier: Okay, that's the safe house - the big, white building at the end of the street.

Iraqi Policeman (a Shiite): I know the house. The owner is Sunni scum.

American soldier: Oh, yeah. Well, intel wants us to capture the guy alive.

Iraqi Policeman: That will not be possible. I am sworn to vengeance.

American soldier: Why? What did he ever do to you?

Iraqi Policeman: A member of his family killed a member of mine!

American soldier: What? When did that happen?

Iraqi Policeman: 1387

American soldier: What's the matter with you people?
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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Optimistic
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Thatīs the thing about the conflict. . . it wasnīt some ages-old animosity that was inevitable to explode at some point. It wasnīt a matter of ethnic rivalries. (from the book): "Bosniaīs Muslims are Slavic, not Arab. They are native Slavs who converted to Islam when Bosnia was under Turkish rule." Bosnian Muslims, Croats, and Serbs all lived together peacefully up until the early 90s, when Milosevic (who had total control of Serbian tv) started giving his daily speeches warning about Bosnian Muslims wanting to take over. The way the book describes it, all the animosities, all the conflict originated from guys like Milosevic who were pushing nationalism and controlling media in order to gain power.
PHOTOS

I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week, sometimes, to make it up.
- Mark Twain


We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-T. S. Eliot
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Optimistic
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HOLY CARP!!!
Kind of makes the whole thing all the more depressing.
PHOTOS

I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week, sometimes, to make it up.
- Mark Twain


We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-T. S. Eliot
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Kincaid
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The book may give little mention at all to the entire history of the area, going back at least a thousand years brings to light more of the history.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/yugo_his.htm

This site seems to give a pretty even-handed account, even if it isnt' that detailed and I can't vouch for it's accuracy. Renauda would, I think, be a good resource as he seems tuned in to the political goings on in this part of the world.

I still remember as Yugoslavia broke up, there were immediate concerns that all the religious-tinged rivalries that Tito tamped down for about 40 years would explode. It certainly seems like Milosevic, whose motivations almost certainly sprang out of a desire to rule as simple base nationalism, really fomented the carnage in Bosnia. However, it looks like everyone had some blood on their hands and at least the political powers wanted to redress old wrongs and insecurities that they perceived.
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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