Iraq Car Bomb Kills American Activist

Associated Press ^ | 4/17/05 | Associated Press

[jimbo123]

SAN FRANCISCO - A woman who founded a humanitarian group to aid civilian casualties in Iraq has died in a car bombing in Baghdad, officials said Sunday.

Marla Ruzicka, founder of Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, died Saturday in the blast, which also killed an Iraqi and another foreigner, officials said. She had been in Iraq conducting door-to-door surveys trying to determine the number of civilian casualties in the country.

Ruzicka, 28, founded CIVIC in 2003 to "mitigate the impact of the conflict and its aftermath on the people of Iraq by ensuring that timely and effective life-saving assistance is provided to those in need," according to the group's Web site.

Ruzicka's parents said Sunday they were notified of her death just hours after the explosion. U.S. Embassy officials publicly released Ruzicka's name Sunday.

"We've been very worried about her but we know better than to tell our children not to do anything. We were supportive and just reminded her to be careful," said her mother, Nancy Ruzicka, of Lakeport.

She said her daughter had left her a telephone message the night before her death that said, "Mom and dad, I love you. I'm OK."

"She cared about people and gave people her love and help," Nancy Ruzicka said. "I'll remember the love she spread around the world and the good ambassador that she was for her country."

Ruzicka got her start working for non-governmental organizations 10 years ago at the San Francisco-based human rights group Global Exchange.

"It's a terrible tragedy and a tragic irony that somebody who devoted her life to helping the victims of war would herself become a victim of war," said Medea Benjamin, the group's director.

[Wormwood]

No.

I'm not moved when an enemy dies.

[Terriergal]

SAN FRANCISCO - A woman who founded a humanitarian group to aid civilian casualties in Iraq has died in a car bombing in Baghdad, officials said Sunday. Marla Ruzicka, founder of Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict,

That is just too tragically ironic. No good deed goes unpunished, I guess.

[neptune235]

thanks for the info!

[devolve]

Che was her hero

Che was a murdering terrorist coward

She knew who Benjamin was/is - Benjamin and her scummy traitors raised cash from America-hating radicals and foreign enemies and provided it to A-Q

Every penny they raised and gave was one more penny terrorists used to kill US troops, coalition troops, and civilians

Some attacks on the USA cost under $10,000 - I'd venture that the WTC II attack and the Pentagon attack cost under $500,000

Benjamin and her scummy band have financed Al Quaeda and their underling sleepers in the USA abroad

Read some more

Lots more

"Peacenik" BS!


Benjamin should be shot as a traitor and a spy against the USA

I'll furnish the ammo and pull the trigger on them if called to by our forces and administration



How can you be so naive?

".....she looks like some regular vaguely leftist peacenik. What did she do?"


"...looks like some regular vaguely..."

Tim McVeigh looked "regular" to many - so did John Wayne Gacy - so do many serial killers

Hitler "liked dogs" - built "great super-highways" - so what?

Other's perception is the tool of a con man and criminal

In combat much of the uniformed enemy "looks like some regular vaguely..."

Uniformed unlawful combatants should be shot on the spot - perfectly acceptable according to the Geneva Conventions - that includes "insurgents", media living with the enemy, traitorous groups and individuals.

They were in 1776, 1812, 1847, 1861, 1900, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam

My ancestors and relatives fought in all of these wars - I and my living relatives have served since - many have died

In the Revolutionary War and the Civil War I had ancestors fighting on both sides - all legal uniformed military who served honorably

If you think Benjamin and her dead buddy are so innocent - I can drop you in sections of Miami you will never leave in one piece.


Castro and Che are behind the torture and murders of millions in Cuba and in other countries.

I will waste no more time with you - if you cannot comprehend it now you are either on the other side or unable to logically digest the simple fact that she was a Commie aiding our enemies.

My liberal NYC sister would take her out in a heartbeat.

Your naive comment makes my doubt your loyalty to America

I will politely state this: never oppose me or my country as Benjamin and her little buddies have and still do

I had seven Islamics kicked out of the USA and sent back to Tehran prior to 911

Since then many more have been deported or convicted and imprisoned


The enemy is within today


Curtiss Slewah knows Benjamin and her traitors well and agrees with me


If you need a liberal's view on Benjamin and her traitors - call talk show host "Lionel" at WOR 700am NYC - he is of Cuban blood - he lost many family members to Castro and "Che" - "Che" - the terrorist/hero of this dead piece of garbage


America's citizens has never faced the realities of a war against a shadow terrorist cult of cowards and is polluted with "Peaceniks" thinking they are back in the '60s and NYU radicals and Socialists (read NAZIS - USSR - Cambodia - etc.) and Commies -

Evidently you have never crawled under machinegun fire ripping at your uniform or you would never ask such silly naive questions

--

Please note I do not resort to any name-calling or "racist/facist" tags against FReepers - "naive" is hardly over the top

Some research on lawful and unlawful warfare and the Geneva Conventions should be on your reading list.


Traitors like Bejamin should be hung in public in my opinion - if in the field like the CBS cameraman living with terrorists in Iraq they should be gut-shot and left to die


Time to bring back flame-throwers on our armored vehicles


Do you still feel sorry for this willing partner of Muslim terrorists that killed 3000 innocent people of all races and religions on 911?

If/when these sub-human Islamic cult terrorists again attack the USA again there will be no pause - no hesitation -

Many Americans already have watch-lists of Muslims

You seem to think a 700+ year old insane horde will suddenly be planting daisies in our parks

If you doubt this at all - why has my liberal NYC sister been training at the range with large caliber firearms

[neptune235]

I'm not moved when an enemy dies.

Yeah, but are you on the same page as the security forces she was travelling with? The troops she hung out with? Probably not. THEY didn't shoot her, the terrorists did. The troops didn't think of her as an enemy or they would have shot her...The enemy is the terrorist who killed some woman helping families whose water ran out after the bombing or something. He was aiming for the troops. Stop cheering for the terrorist: its a BAD thing when terrorists kill, period.

[ClashOnBroadway]

Not really; Christian love has always been easier to preach than to practice...

[Selkie]

Prayers for her and her family. Hard to believe that so many have hardened their hearts so muc>>>

She and her family hate(d) YOU and every decent American. She and her family hated anyone who loves America, the President, Christianity and the Right To Life.

She spent much energy protesting going to Afghanistan and spoke out about how evil Republicans and the President were to invade Afghanistan.

Reason #1 why we went to Afghanistan

George Soros approved of Marla:

http://www.soros.org/initiatives/cep/events/iraq_200400206/summary?skin=printable

[Selkie]

She knew who Benjamin was/is - Benjamin and her scummy traitors raised cash from America-hating radicals and foreign enemies and provided it to A-Q>>>>

No kidding I posted a picture a few posts back with Medea hugging her.
She and Medea were arrested together.

[Wormwood]

And yet I *still* cannot muster up any sympathy for a dead communist whore.

Odd, that.

[neptune235]

Look, I don't want to sink to deep into this. All I'm saying is its too bad. The reason why I'm saying this is as follows: If Military intelligence or CIA thought she was colluding with the enemy they would have had her arrested or deported in a heartbeat, but THEY DIDN'T. Sinse these guys, unlike all of you, have a firsthand view of the situation, I am going to side with them. They may not have liked her, but they didn't think of her as an enemy. So I say TOO BAD and R.I.P!

[armymarinemom]

The troops didn't think of her as an enemy or they would have shot her

There are a lot of people over there that our troops consider an enemy that they can't shoot. Contrary to popular belief they have to justify a shooting.

Example. My son hard to fire a warning shot in Afghanistan while on convoy. Nobody died. He still had to fill out a report on spent ammunition. Before a human can be shot they have to present an immediate threat to our troops.

Folks such as this woman, Media Benjamin and the folks at Occupation Watch are known to our troops as not friendly but the be left alone.

This woman died by friendly fire our our enemy.

[neptune235]

see my post above. Its plain old conspiracy theory to think that military intel thinks shes colluding with the enemy but wouldn't arrest or deport her.

[armymarinemom]

. Its plain old conspiracy theory to think that military intel thinks shes colluding with the enemy but wouldn't arrest or deport her.

Wrong there. All of my sons have come home talking about folks like this in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Do your homework on the antiwar folks. They are working hard to defeat our troops.

[Boazo]

Why to say it devolve!!!

[armymarinemom]

You gotta check out this thread. This lady is a bud of Medea Benjamin's.

[Bonaparte]

"Have a little bit of a heart, willya?"

Oh? Are we being "mean-spirited"?

I would have let this thread pass by without comment if others, including you, hadn't tried to canonize this viper.

[armymarinemom]

I would have let this thread pass by without comment if others, including you, hadn't tried to canonize this viper.

Amen to that!! The only comment I made is that I wasn't going to comment. Then......

[fhlime]

Marla Ruzicka - pre-Iraq
Houston Chronicle
July 5, 1995

Twenty-six teen-agers and their chaperones, threatened with prison time and hefty fines, returned to the United States without incident Friday after touring Cuba in defiance of a U.S. travel ban.

"No law should keep us from going to another country,'' said Marla Ruzicka, 18.

"Someday, young people like us will be working on policy, and we need to learn about other cultures. We visited hospitals, schools . . . Cuba is the greatest place.''

The group's weeklong travel through the Caribbean nation was sanctioned by the Freedom to Travel Campaign, a California-based agency that says U.S. restrictions on travel to Cuba are unnecessary and outdated. Freedom to Travel has sponsored other Cuba trips as part of its protest....

Renee Saucedo, a chaperone from San Francisco, said she hopes authorities consider that the tourists are all school-aged.

""I hope our government wouldn't prosecute young people just trying to learn about other young people,'' Saucedo said.

---

Santa Rosa Press Democrat
"CUBA HAS MUCH TO TEACH U.S., IF ONLY WE'D LISTEN"
"Teen Life" column by Marla Ruzicka

Young people exploring their world, creating peaceful ties and exchanging with youth from another culture...does that sound illegal?

In the case of myself and 35 young people ages 10 to 24, it was definitely illegal.
I just got back from Cuba on a very special youth delegation organized by the Freedom to Travel Campaign of San Francisco. Before we embarked on our journey, the Treasury Department sent us a letter threatening us with a $300,000 fine and up to 10 years in jail. This is what can happen to someone who decides they want to explore a fascinating and friendly culture.

I traveled to Cuba in November with the organization Pastors for Peace, which takes needed material aid to Cuba annually. On the streets of Havana, Cubans would come up to us with tears in their eyes, thanking us for the life-saving medicine, or bicycles that were brought on the caravan. Yet U.S. customs threatened to arrest leaders from Pastors from Peace this June, and always harasses them when they cross the border. These acts are of pure humanitarian purposes -- they are not the actions that should get you thrown in prison.....
====
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Letter to the editor by Marla Ruzicka
January 10, 1997

As a student and solidarity activist who just returned from Central America, Guatemala is in my heart. Hear my thanks for your Jan. 1 editorial regarding the U.S.'s sickening role in Guatemala.

The 100,000 people who were killed in Guatemala are more than statistics; they were people who loved others, were involved in their communities, and who had hopes and dreams, just as you and I do.

I find it ironic that people fuss about five percent of the federal budget going to welfare, food stamps, energy assistance and housing subsidies for the poor, while a fat chunk goes to the CIA to destabilize countries and crush people's lives. . . .

For Guatemala's sake we must demand that U.S. policy and aid programs truly are in the majorities' interests. We can do this by supporting grass-roots advocacy projects in Guatemala and right here in the belly of the beast.

Let's do this not because we don't want to waste our taxes on other countries' affairs, but in memory of those whose dreams were silenced.
====
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Letter to the editor by Marla Ruzicka
July 4, 1997

After just returning home from Cuba on a four-month college exchange program I write this letter with great urgency. I lived with my Cuban abuela (grandma) whom I had to watch lie in pain as she couldn't obtain the medicine she needed for her inflamed leg. I vowed to myself that I would do everything possible to educate others to change this disgusting policy.

The U.S. trade embargo of Cuba is the longest and most extreme embargo in modern history. Cuba has been allowed to trade with subsidiaries of U.S. companies in Third World countries from 1975 until the Cuban Democracy Act was passed in 1992. Over 90 percent of this subsidiary trade was in food and medicines. In 1992, the U.S. government threatened U.S. subsidiaries in Argentina with sanctions, and as a result a huge export in wheat, soy, peas and lentils was blocked. The U.S. also pursued a policy of preventing U.S. subsidiaries from exporting medical supplies also to Cuba.

Some of the products kept from reaching Cuba included pacemakers, respiratory equipment and asparaginase and dornase, used in treating children with leukemia, that are only manufactured in the United States.

As human beings with hearts and souls I urge you to contact Rep. Frank Riggs and tell him to sign onto the Cuban Humanitarian Trade Act (HR 1951). This bill would exempt most trade in food, medicine and medical supplies from the embargo. Tell Riggs that Cubans have suffered long enough.
====
Palm Beach Post
November 16, 2000

Out-state Green Party members sent to observe Wednesday's scheduled recount in Palm Beach County complained that the two-party system treats them like second-class citizens.

Gathering with Democratic and Republican observers to watch the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, they asked where they should sit. The answer: Stand in the back of the room.

"We don't have chairs for you," said canvassing board member Carol Roberts, a Democrat and county commissioner. "I'm sorry."

The Green Party observers, wearing bright green T-shirts, later chafed at the treatment.

"It's just rude," said Marla Ruzicka of San Francisco.

Added June Brashares of Oakland: "We're the third party now - although we have to keep reminding people of that."

The Green Party reps said they have no regrets about supporting Ralph Nader, even though they may have cost Al Gore the election by taking votes that could have gone to him.

"I think people voted for Nader because they wanted to vote for Nader," Ruzicka said.
====
Austin American Statesman
May 15, 2001

Photo: Jakub Mosur/Associated Press; Medea Benjamin, left, and Marla Ruzicka, members of Global Exchange, a human rights group, and other members of the 'Ratebusters' group protest a proposed rate increase at a Public Utilities Commission meeting in San Francisco on Monday. The commission is expected to vote today.
====
St Petersburg Times
April 8, 2002

COMPENSATION SOUGHT: Sixty survivors held a rally Sunday at the gates of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, seeking compensation for losses from the U.S. bombing campaign.

About 450 claims have been filed, half involving loss of life, and the rest involving property loss, said Marla Ruzicka of the U.S.- based advocacy group Global Exchange. The group suggests the United States pay $10,000 per family to rebuild homes and compensate for loss of life.

The U.S. Embassy has told the activists to submit claims to the embassy, "but they never let us know the status of the claims," Ruzicka complained.
====
Western Mail (Cardiff, Scotland)
July 22, 2002

Global Exchange field workers in Afghanistan have compiled a list of 812 civilians killed in American air strikes.

The Pentagon's reliance on warlords and other local Afghans whose loyalties are unclear was largely to blame for the blunders, it said. "Smart bombs are only as smart as people on the ground," said Marla Ruzicka, a Global Exchange field worker in Afghanistan.
====

[armymarinemom]

Do we need a permanent anti war primer somewhere on he website? The DC Chapter has a good start already with the flag photos.