The senseless death of the woman who fought George Bush

[cal04]

She looked like she should be surfing on a beach in California but Marla Ruzicka was drawn instead to Iraq and her self-appointed task of helping the civilian victims of George Bush's war. She was 28 years old and had been a peace activist since a young age. She went to Baghdad as the head of her own charity, determined to find out how many Iraqis had been killed or injured by US forces and get compensation for survivors.At the weekend, the dedication that had taken Marla from her home in San Francisco to the war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq, led to her death.

On Saturday afternoon, as she and her driver were on the road leading from Baghdad to the city's airport, a suicide bomber attacked a passing convoy of security contractors. Marla's car was caught in the blast and engulfed in flames. A US Army medic who tried to help her said she was briefly conscious and was able to speak. "I'm alive," she had told him. She died along with an unnamed French national and an Iraqi.

The question everyone always asked about Marla was from where did she get all of her energy. She was constantly on the move: chattering, smiling, rushing to a hospital, dashing to a meeting, cajoling journalists, pestering diplomats, taking notes from a woman whose relatives had been killed, crossing time zones, entering people's lives.

Her drive - and probably the boundless energy - came from a deep desire to help ordinary people whose lives had been shattered in President Bush's so-called war on terror. In the environment of the world's war zones, where cynicism and idealism often overlap, Marla was something of a one-woman wonder.
In the aftermath of the war in Afghanistan, she travelled to Kabul with the intention of trying to help Afghan civilians. If sometimes she appeared a little naive, it was to her advantage. It was quite simple, she believed. If the US had been responsible for causing suffering, surely it could try and help those people who needed it?

rest of the article
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=630851

[autorank]

1. Very sad. I respect her commitment and have sorrow for her family.

I'm reminded of the peace activist from the US who gut run over by an Israeli bull dozer (knocking down a Palestinian house). It's a nasty world out there.

[Triana]

2. Marla SOO outclassed that pathetic retarded monkey...

...I will not write what I'm thinking...Hi Carnivore! :mad:

[MasonJar]

3. You have to wonder if the Iraqis were responsible. Note the

info on DU yesterday that the Italians still do not accept US story on the "murder" of the Italian agent on the way to the airport.

[cal04]

4. I think a lot of people are

having the same thoughts

[stellanoir]

5. she was such an angel

I'm crying now.

[Fridays Child]

6. Watch the freepslime crucify her like they did Rachel Corrie.

To: doug from upland
"She was trying to give comfort to others."

No. She wasn't.

She was killed trying to prove her country was evil and that liberating millions of people from tyranny was wrong.

She was killed trying to discredit the US military and the US government.

She was killed trying to make the enemy appear to be good while making her country look bad.

It's too bad that she was killed, but she had no business being there and her activities were traitorous.



31 posted on 04/17/2005 5:27:43 PM PDT by Poser (Joining Belly Girl in the Pajamahadeen)
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1385646/posts

[Judi Lynn]

7. She would NOT have been a Republican!

Images left behind:

Very sad.

I pray there is more to life than we can see, because the view from here is goddawful.

Thanks for the article.

[cal04]

8. Interesting comment

The part of the story not being covered is that Marla was just completing a survey of how many civilians had been killed or crippled by US forces in Iraq when she (and the research) were destroyed by the car bomb.
So, why would Iraqis blow this woman up?