RIP Marla Ruzicka, a bright, shining compassionate light killed in Iraq

[G_j]

Saturday Marla Ruzicka was
killed in a car bombing in Iraq. Today, we remember Marla.



COUNTING ON MARLA
Tai Moses, AlterNet
Politicians and government officials learned the hard way
how relentless this sweet-faced girl, barely out of her
teens, could be.
http://www.alternet.org/story/21779/

ONE OF A KIND
Don Hazen, AlterNet
To say Marla was unique may seem a cliche, but in my many
years of political work and journalism, I have never known
anyone quite like her.
http://www.alternet.org/story/21777/

REMEMBERING A FRIEND KILLED IN IRAQ
Medea Benjamin, Kevin Danaher, AlterNet
Marla Ruzicka was whose work focused
on trying to bring some compassion into the middle of a war
zone.
http://www.alternet.org/story/21778/

MOURNING MARLA
Jill Carroll, Christian Science Monitor
Intrepid humanitarian aid worker Marla Ruzicka died in
Baghdad Saturday when her car was caught in an insurgent
attack.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/21780/

[cry baby]

1. Evidently the world will be a darker place without her.

sad

[Jack Rabbit]

2. Very tragic news. This woman had courage.

LBN thread here.

[coffeenap]

3. She was a true American hero. On she goes.

[G_j]

4. some photos of Marla

[hector459]

5. One of the bright shining lights of humanity. May she be at peace.

eom

[Hissyspit]

6. Another Great Photo of Marla:

From MSNBC: Activist Dies In Iraq Blast

[seabeyond]

7. i read about her last nite on raeds blog

sad indeed

[theliberalavenger]

8. "Culture of Life" Hypocrisy

http://liberalavenger.com/2005/04/death-of-marla-ruzicka-tragedy.html

[G_j]

9. kick

[Flubadubya]

10. A tear for Marla...

I had never known of her except for her death. I wish I had. What a beautiful human being! :loveya:

[G_j]

11. American Woman Travels Door to Door to Count Iraqi Casualties

http://badgimp.blogspot.com/2003/05/at-deaths-door-american-woman-travels.html

Friday, May 30, 2003

At Death’s Door

American Woman Travels Door to Door to Count Iraqi Casualties

By David Wright
ABC News.com

Marla Ruzicka, from the San Francisco Bay Area, has been in post-war Baghdad, doing a headcount of the Iraqi injured and the dead. (ABCNEWS.COM)

B A G H D A D, Iraq, May 28— The Pentagon keeps a precise count of U.S. casualties in the war in Iraq. But the question of how many Iraqis lost their lives remains as mysterious as the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein or the location of all those weapons of mass destruction.

Marla Ruzicka, 26, from the San Francisco Bay Area, has been in Baghdad since the day Saddam's statue fell in the city center. She has been doing a headcount of the Iraqi injured and the dead. She's found more than she expected.

She has formed her own nonprofit organization, called the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, or CIVIC. She has organized 150 surveyors to fan out across Iraq. So far, they say they have documented 620 civilian deaths in Baghdad, 256 in Najaf, 425 in Karbala and as many as 1,100 in Nasiriyah. It is only a preliminary count.

"Somewhere between 5,000 to 10,000 people died in this conflict," Ruzicka said.

-continued-

[leftchick]

18. and she started the counting two years ago?

God Bless her! RIP Marla.... :cry:

[G_j]

12. makes me sad that all day

there have been only 8 replies (besides my own)

Am I missing something to think we might spend a moment or two to reflect on this very special women?

[Stone_Spirits]

13. she obviouslty can't compete with Anne Coulter here

which makes me :puke:

[G_j]

15. she is "popular" here, as ppl love to hate her but it is sad

a lot of people here don't even know anything about Marla or for that matter Medea Benjamin or other women who are incredibly courageous, wise, compassionate and committed to causes we believe in.

Coulter, Rush etc. are better known. Unfortunately we too often miss out on the really GOOD people, some who even die without our noticing.

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. Bless her kindhearted soul.

May she rest in peace.

She looks familiar. Wasn't she on C-SPAN's Washington Journal about a year ago?

[G_j]

16. kick

[mikita]

17. two young women of unbelievable strength....

Marla Ruzicka and Rachel Corey....

So very sad.

[sweetheart]

19. Another pointless martyrdom

What the hell was she doing in iraq except asking to join the ranks
of the very souls her organization claimed to be defending... another
civilian victem. Surely she knew this, and went ahead anyways. Now
she's just another martyr, someone who we could have used in our
civilization decades on, dead.

Its terrible, sad, a travesty her death, and yet i can't call it
intelligent. Must we martyr the foolish and diminish the wise as
cowards for not planning a statistically-likely suicide? No more than
any christan fundy nutter who's been shot dead in iraq, she's one of
our own left-nutters, similarly martyred, similarly holy and similary
foolish to be there to start with.

The politically correct mourn her loss and whisper sweet prayers whilst
"not" saying what they're really thinking... "What the hell was she
doing there asking to be shot?"... no, she was merely the other side
of the prodestant karma of fixing other people's business. THe ugly
side does it with guns and the "good" side does it with missionary zeal.

Neither is right, and both of them neoliberal lessons on colonialism
we need to learn from... something we don't do as long as we shy away
from the truth. There are no 72 virgins. Martyrdom is silly and
ill advised. How many more will nail themselves to crosses in an
asian patch of desert before our culture is willing to admit that
our martyrdom is no better than that of a suicide bomber.

May she rest in peace and may nobody else follow her to such wasteful ends.

namaste,
-s

[G_j]

26. wow -s, I can't agree

I think I understand what you saying but I take a very different sense to her story after reading various accounts including the articles in the OP.
I am having a hard time coming up with the words to describe my feelings about this and to give you a clear response.
I know someone who has gone to Israel (as an "International")
to protect Palestinian civilians and to be there as a witness. She has been there a half dozen times and every time we worry. She might have met the same fate as Rachel Corey. It is not a game. This same woman has been in harms way in other parts of the world as well. She is a driven person, not a martyr, not a fool. In fact she is one of the wisest people I have known (I've known a few).

I believe that some of us are inspired or 'driven' to follow destinies which may look foolish to others.
But who else would have done it?
Who else would attempt to shine light on situations where nobody else will shine one? Yes it is a waste, humanity and it's blood lust and wars, waste upon tragedy.

You see I don't think people like Marla can sit back and watch from afar. I just think it the way some people are wired and I am grateful because I am more of a coward who plays things safely.
I am not not glad that Marla was killed, but I am glad she followed her heart. The word "martyr" does not really mean much to me.
I'm not sure she had a choice.

[sweetheart]

28. Clearly it was dharma

I can't but celibrate people following dharma.

The situation in iraq is an american civil war of corporate fascism
against a land of people occupied by similar anglo-colonialist
powers for coming on a century now, in repeated waves, the colonial
armies ride through iraq, kill thousands, committ war crimes and then
send in the missionaries to put a pretty face on it.

To be there, is to be a willing agent in a cynical invasion, riding
around in military convoys whilst pretending to be not with them.

I really am not commenting on Marla and her great and wise goodwill
that she sought to share, but that she was being used, perhaps beyond
her own awareness.... and that got her killed. When the nazis invaded
eastern europe 55 years ago, likewise there were "good" nazis who went
there to liberate and communicate the vision of all that was great
about germany. When they got killed and raped as so so so many germans
did by the end of that war, the innocent ones, yes, we only recall the
history of the defeat of the nazis, and not senseless killing of
innocent germans. It was deemed a necessary thing, collateral
damage if you will.

Here, similarly, Marla has become collateral damage, and for all the
sad tragedy of her loss, we are, in our nations, less one great
hearted person. You are wise, G_J, not to go to iraq yourself, and it
is not cowardice. Our MSM culture loves a dead liberal, one that
can't talk, but keeps the left on board with more war to defend the
missionary neoliberals who should not be there to start with.

She was a very beautiful lady by the photos. A tragedy, written
from the outset to be a tragedy, perhaps is simply dharma. That
we have free will as well, means tragedy is not pre-destined, and
i hope other folks with her great heart, keep alive, as dammmit,
there are too few, and martin luther king would have been even more
valuable to us had he lived longer....

[G_j]

30. powerful points

and I appreciate the opportunity you offer here to think about this in another way.

Perhaps dharma is the correct word. I was very much influenced in my younger years by the books of Nikos Kazantzakis. If you have read any of his books you might recognise something similar.
His stories are filled with a sense of dharma I suppose, and many of the characters (especially the good ones) would meet tragic ends.
My view has also to do with the way I am 'wired' and people like Marla give me hope and inspiration.
I cannot discount what you are saying, but let me sleep on it. :-)

peace G_j

[rman]

32. not pointless

surely the work she did wasn't pointless. she knew it was dangerous yet she went ahead. even in death she may be an inspiration to others.
that's not pointless.

[sweetheart]

35. We have to believe that

As anything else betrays the goodwill of her naive heart. That said,
she's dead, and her work is over. Likely her work died with her, and
in the most praagmatic sense, i would rather she were wiser that her
work actually got "done" instead of martyred that we can all feel
her inspiration and know her work ended.

Why did she not get media airplay when she was alive... because, like
paul wellstone and so many others, her being alive was the problem for
the bush nazis. Now that she's dead, and her work exposing injustice
ended, the MSM are let loose to wax lyrical about how great it was.

Maybe they'll make a movie and let heather graham play marla, perhaps
edit the story line a bit so that she was working "with" the bush
nazis, and then sell it to americans wanting more juice from their
marla feelings.

As well, the public can feel more outrage at those "inhuman" people
fighting against a colonial army that has illegally invaded and
occupied their country. Rather, because marla was in the convoy,
the occupation is whitewashed, and its all the work of saints. The
death of an american lefty helps keep the left on board with the
occupation cuz they're killing "us" too.

Obviously Marla attained a very noble death, a victory of a saint,
truly a martyr, and we can celibrate that she's achieved her 72
virgins along with the suicide bombers who killed her to liberate
the people of iraq from an evil army, along with the soldiers who
were killed bringing democracy to the people of iraq.

Everyone's a martyr, that surely we must canonize the lot of them
that nobody's pointless death be forgotten.

[emma_jane]

20. Just so tragic...

The world needs far more of these sorts of people. We cannot afford to loose them. The fact that she was where she was when she was killed is exactly why she was so important.
The incredibly unchristian comments on some of the right-wing boards absolutely floored me. The unabaited hatred of someone who was clearly an infectious and caring person who lived what she beleived absolutely floored me.

[Fire Walk With Me]

23. !!!

"The incredibly unchristian comments on some of the right-wing boards absolutely floored me."

Unbelievable...

[emma_jane]

25. !!!

What's that for...

I was intrigued to see what they were saying about it, checked out freerepublic.com and they were (about 1/2 of the responses) basically celebrating her death and demonising her as traitorous.

Maybe my interpretation is wrong but that doesn't exactly strike me as Christian type behaviour, which is what most of the were purporting to be about 2 weeks ago during the Schaivo debarckle.

[Jack Rabbit]

21. .

From the San Francisco Chronicle

[me b zola]

29. What a beautiful woman, inside & out

I have been waiting to see a thread so that I may express my saddness at the loss of such a great being. I have seen her father interviewed, and he seems to be holding up okay, I hope he is doing as well behind the cameras, we should send him kind thoughts & wishes.

She set about doing the work that some of us (me) are wondering why we aren't doing the same. Bless her for her life's work, thank her for how selflessly she gave. Much love...

[Just Me]

22. Thank you, Miss Marla, for shining your light on all of us.

*sigh*

[Celeborn Skywalker]

24. RIP, Marla (nt)

[G_j]

27. 'Angel of Mercy' one-woman mission to make the US take responsibility

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0418-05.htm



Published on Monday, April 18, 2005 by the Los Angeles Times
Country's Violence Catches Up to 'Angel of Mercy' Crusader in Iraq
by Doug Smith

BAGHDAD -- She hugged and laughed her way through war zones with an effervescence belying her seriousness of purpose.

No pass to get through a checkpoint? She leaned across her Iraqi driver to show the stern American guard the shock of blond hair beneath her flowing black robes.

"Please, please, please, please, please," she said, and then, "Where are you from?"

She waved aside tough-looking guards from all corners of the world, never looking back to see if they had raised an AK-47 in her direction. In her one-woman mission to make the United States take one-woman mission to make the United States take responsibility for victims of its wars, 28-year-old Marla Ruzicka bubbled with a passion that seemed to lift her beyond danger.

<snip>
Her death stunned a wide circle of diplomats, government officials, soldiers, journalists and ordinary people from Baghdad to Kabul, Afghanistan.

"God bless her pure soul, she was trying to help us," said Haj Natheer Bashir, the brother-in-law of an Iraqi teenager Ruzicka was trying to evacuate to the San Francisco Bay area for surgery. "She was just a kind lady."

..more..

[ngGale]

31. The death of Marla should have been all over the...

mainstream media, but wasn't mentioned until today. Very sad, such a wonderful girl.

This is the girl who should grace the cover of Time magazine. I won't be holding my breath!

[leftchick]

33. That is a very sad and sickening point..

That the idiot coulter makes times cover and Marla who was literally an angel on earth gets nothing. :(

[MrScorpio]

34. Such a sad a tragic loss

Rest In Peace, Marla