BOOK
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Stjepan Šiber (2000).
Deceptions, delusions, the truth - 1992 war diary
Sarajevo:
RABIC Publishing Co.
pp. 348
Šiber's
348 page book was published by the Sarajevo-based RABIC
publishing company in the fall of 2000. It discusses prewar
events, the beginning and course of the war in Sarajevo
and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and provides a summary of the
author's role in these events. An account is also given
of the complex relations between the defenders of the Republic
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who were of different religious
and national backgrounds, and the reasons for the creation
of the Croatian Defense Council, the Patriot League, the
Croatian Liberation Forces (HOS), and the Army of Bosnia
and Herzegovina. The author also tries to identify reasons
for the confrontation, and later the restricted (but cruel)
armed conflict between members of the B&H Army and the
Croatian Defense Council. Various documents, reports, and
maps appended at the end of the book serve as evidence of
authenticity and enhance the book's documentary quality.
The
book is based on authentic entries from the diary of Stjepan
Šiber, M.A. in military science, who in 1992 placed himself
at the disposal of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
in the defense against the aggression being perpetrated
on Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He served as Chief
of Staff of the B&H Territorial Defense, Deputy Commander
of the Territorial Defense, and later Deputy Commander of
the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The
author relates his personal evaluations of the reasons for
and course of the aggression of the so-called Yugoslav National
Army against the sovereign Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
describing the huge and sometimes insurmountable difficulties
encountered in the defense of individual and national freedoms
of citizens, and in gaining the independence of the Republic
of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also identifies and emphasizes
his own and other people's delusions during the struggle
for the survival of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
which were often caused by deceptions to which he himself
had fallen victim.
In his
book, the author has made an ambitious attempt to write
the truth about the "agonized, betrayed and deceived
people, people of different religions, political and cultural
orientations." This quote from the introductory part
of the book identifies Šiber as a man who believed in and
defended a united, civil Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
a man to whom chauvinism and extremism were foreign.
One
must interpret the author's introductory address to the
reader in the same context, where he describes the deceptions
and delusions as "a shameful betrayal, a shameful history
of sub-humans and inhumanity which needs to be severely
condemned, but never forgotten."
The book provides numerous excerpts from the author's conversations
on the crucial issues of the country's defense and future,
as well as his impressions of his interlocutors and individuals
from the political, religious, military and civil segments
of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. For instance,
he relates conversations and gives evaluations of specific
actions of Alija Izetbegović, Cardinal Vinko Puljić, Ejup
Ganić, Alija Demustafić, Mate Boban, Stjepan Kljuić, Mile
Akmadžić, Jovan Divjak, Sefer Halilović, Jerko Doka, Tihomir
Blaškić, Dario Kordić, Zlatko Lagumdžija, Avdo Hebib, JNA
Generals, Kukanjac and Gver, Ismet Bajramović-Čela, Juko
Prazina and others.
Particularly
interesting are conversations, negotiations, and agreements
with UNPROFOR representatives deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Generals Nambijar, McKenzie, Razek, Morlion, Simpson and
others.
Despite
the fact that the author sometimes loses objectivity in
his approach to the resolution of problems on military cooperation
between the B&H Army and the Croatian Defense Council,
I recommend this book to the readers, because it provides
an understanding of the goals and significant events which
occurred in the defense of freedom and sovereignty of the
Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Even though these political
and military events took place only recently, one can observe
that the author's approach to the defense of the Republic
of Bosnia and Herzegovina was never implemented, as the
Dayton Agreement divided the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
into Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
based on exclusively national criteria.
Željko
Sačić, M.A.