Posted on 04/17/2005 5:10:12 PM PDT by 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.
The 9/11 hijackers stuck their necks out for something they believed in, too. I guess you give them kudos for putting their necks on the line, too, right?
And I can find no sorrow at this person's passing from the scene.
She was in Iraq to gather grist for the anti-American mill. She was there to help the enemies who fight our soldiers
As for the precise manner of her demise, what's the old saying?
Hooray for life's little ironies.
I agree. The more I'm reading about her the more she begins to look one step shy of being a terrorist herself. There have been hundreds of bombings that gain my sympathy. This isn't one of them.
Thanks - sorry I didn't read further.
It took a while before the Corrie facts and PIX were made known.
EXCERPT:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/johnleo/jl20020802.shtml
On his site, The Politburo, blogger Michael Moynihan noted that the Times' source for the toll of 812 dead was Marla Ruzicka, identified as a field worker in Afghanistan for Global Exchange, "an American organization." What the Times didn't say, Moynihan wrote, is that Global Exchange is a "far-left" group that opposes globalization and the U.S. military. Ruzicka, he said, is a fan of Fidel Castro's Cuba and the winner of an award from "the Marxist group Refuse and Resist."
"Lemme ask you, pal, have YOU ever stuck your neck out for what YOU believe? Have you ever taken a risk? Even once?"
I have. I'm a Viet Nam vet. You can put your straw man away and analyze her activities now. She wasn't trying to help anyone. She was trying to hurt Bush, the USA and the US military.
There's a big difference between doing what you think is right and doing what is right.
Anyone who admires Fidel Castro, the war crimes butcher of the innocent in Angola, automatically forfeits their rights to the moral high ground in criticizing war casualties.
It is with deep sadness and regret that I am writing to inform you that Marla died yesterday at the age of 29 in a suicide bomb attack. Faiz, her Iraqi partner, was also killed.
Two beautiful people who devoted their lives to helping innocent victims of war have now become them.
The attack occurred on the Baghdad Airport road as she traveled to visit an Iraqi child injured by a bomb, part of her daily work of identifying and supporting innocent victims of this war.
Only a few hours before her death, Marla sent me this photo of Harah. She was 3 months old when she was thrown from a vehicle just before it was destroyed by a U.S. rocket attack. Her entire family was killed. Hers just one example of the hundreds of lives Marla and Faiz touched with their heroic work.
"The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love." Ernesto Che Guevara
This is one of Marla's favorite quotes. She had enough love to cover the planet. It is crucial that Marla be commemorated and that her work continue.
I, for one, can assure you that it will. I will post more details as I receive them.
Thank you all for your support.
peace,
April Pedersen
april@democracyinaction.org
Well, the street at least.
Let's put a positive spin on this. Perhaps she became a "human shield" to protect Iraqis from al Qaeda. Wish more of our leftists would do the same.
Not exactly the hallmarks of humanitarian non-violence...
Sad , but you are right .
Uh oh, I feel a song coming on. I think it's Patsy Cline.
"I blow to pieces"
I questions whether a door-to-door survey could have been considered a useful way to determine civilian casualties. Maybe she just had to make a good show first.
http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/Benjamin-Arrested-Lacks-Media.htm
AP 7nov00
SAN FRANCISCO -- A Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate and two of her aides were arrested by San Francisco police Monday night at a Democratic rally as they clamored at the stage for a chance to speak.
Medea Benjamin; her campaign manager, Jane Brashares; and fund-raiser Marla Ruzicka were arrested for investigation of trespassing and resisting arrest at the Delancy Street Town Hall, which is private property, said police Lt. Louis Cassanego.
(snip)
Another "Useful Idiot". Whatever she was or thought she was doing you can bet the reality was not to the benefit of America or the Iraqi people.
I don't wish death on anyone, but I don't want her lionized in death either.
This person was actively working against us.
Various links:
to "talking with" rumsfeld
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24737-2004Aug22.html
wants $10,000 Uncle Sam comp to every civilian casualty (halfway down)
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/04/08/Worldandnation/Blair_offers_stronges.shtml
Protested with the International ANSWER folks in Oct. 2002
http://lists.mutualaid.org/pipermail/mgj-announce/2002q4/000193.html
Her name is mentioned in post (comment 23) where the immortal Dr. Raoul confronted Ms. Benjamin
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1097589/posts
The Portland Indymedia people like her:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/06/265935.shtml
This blogpost from 2 years ago documents her far-left lineage and her involvement in generating civilian casualty numbers in Afghanistan that were dubious:
http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/000561.html
That'll do for now. Google is your friend.
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