Presented here is a part from her foreward  to Hrvoje Kačić's book Serving my Country,
Croatia Rediviva, Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar, III/ 2006, 241 p.

            It is an honour to be asked to write a foreword to Hrvoje Kačić's book. As will be clear both from his curriculum vitae and from the text, long before the heady (and disastrous) events of 1991 – Croatia's worst year – Kačić had had extensive experience of politics both national and international. Thus he was excellently placed to warn people in the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere the dangers of, for example, the Memorandum, of Milošević'sinflammatory speech to the Serbs of  Kosovo, and of the removal of the autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina. For the same reason, he could advice Tudjman as he struggled  in the critical pre-war years to persuade Milošević to accept a confederation rather than the unworkable federation.  Such a strategy just might have maintained the former Yugoslavia as one viable, albeit looser, entity; and even if it could not have done that, a gradual consensual loosening of bonds would have saved all the constituent republics and provinces from the devastation that later afflicted almost all of of them, not least Serbia. It was probably a doomed strategy, ....... but also had the «Greater Serbia» ideology implicit  in the Memorandum. But it was brave to try.

            So Kačić's position was an exceptional one. He was an independent in politics – thus owing his allegiance to Croatia rather than to any political party ..... In the pre-ware years, just as during the war, he was active not only in Dubrovnik in particular and Croatia in general, usually accompanying heads of state, foreign ministers, ambassadors and diplomats, luminaries like Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Bernard Kouchner; but also in the Hague, in Belgrade, talking to the European parliament, to parliamentarians of the NATO countries, to the Council of Europe, to Lord Carrington, Cyrus Vance, even to generals in the JNA and much, much more. He took every opportunity to argue, to explain, to correct misapprehensions ........  A «roving ambassador» in every sense; for Croatia in general and Dubrovnik in particular.

            Possibly the single grater disaster to befall Croatia, though, was the appalling siege and eventual fall of Vukovar, that most courageous of Croatian cities  (returning briefly to Dubrovnik, the news that Vukovar had been overwhelmed was our worst day – the worst, at any rate, until our  «black Friday»,  December  6 1991). Vukovar was a symbol to us, as it as to everyone in Croatia, of extraordinary bravery against extreme odds. Kačić keeps our minds on Vukovar; this is necessary, because the tragic brutality in the onslaught against this city never received the press coverage in the west that it should have done. Whilst never overlooking  the disasters that hit other  towns, villages, and cities throughout Croatia, he shows how Vukovar and Dubrovnik – «top right»  and «bottom ....» in this most eccentrically – shaped  of countries -  encapsulate, and serve to illustrate, both the human and cultural catastrophes, and the sheer courage of the citizenry, throughout the country.

            The reader should be aware that this volume is a collection of articles, speeches, addresses, reports, letters, interviews; most were written in 1991-2, some in the 1-2 years following. Each piece was delivered, recorded, or written at the date given ...........   Thus, the items in the book constitute almost a diary – like account of the war against Croatia. As it proceeded. .......... It is important to see each chapter in the context and time at which it was written or presented.
 

Hrvati AMAC