The Girl Who Tried to Save the World (slain aid worker Marla Ruzicka)

Rolling Stone ^ | 02 June 05 | Janet Reitman

[Drew68]

The Girl Who Tried to Save the World

The heroic life and final days of Marla Ruzicka, an American martyr

By JANET REITMAN

On the afternoon of Saturday, April 16th, Marla Ruzicka sat in her unarmored Mercedes, talking on the phone with her friend Colin McMahon, a reporter in the Baghdad bureau of the Chicago Tribune. She'd had a "great" round of meetings in the Green Zone, she told McMahon, and was just leaving the fortified compound in the hopes of squeezing in one last meeting before the end of the day. The Green Zone, which sits on the west bank of the Tigris River, used to be the heart of Saddam's empire, and now houses the U.S. Embassy, the Iraqi Parliament and other offices of the new Iraqi government. Outside of the Green Zone, in Baghdad itself, the security situation changes hourly. A route that was safe at noon could be unsafe at 1 p.m. A neighborhood that was peaceful at dawn could be in flames by lunchtime.

A petite, blond, twenty-eight-year-old humanitarian-aid worker from Northern California, Ruzicka knew the volatility of Baghdad as well as anyone. She was virtually the only American aid worker in the Iraqi capital. She was the founder of a small nongovernmental organization called CIVIC -- the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict -- which assisted families whose lives had been ripped apart in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Passionate and driven, Ruzicka worked seven days a week, eighteen hours a day, driving around the city with her Iraqi colleague Faiz Ali Salim. The two spent most of their days compiling data on the number of civilian casualties in Iraq, which Ruzicka then used to lobby American officials to compensate the victims' families, often arranging for wounded children to be evacuated in order to receive medical treatment in the United States. It was revolutionary work -- virtually no other aid group or worker has negotiated with the U.S. government on behalf of civilians injured in American military actions -- but it was exhausting. Ruzicka, who had begun to demonstrate some of the classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, was preparing to leave Baghdad the next day for a vacation in Thailand and then a long rest back in the United States. Leaving was difficult. "This place continues to break my heart," she wrote to a friend in London earlier in the month. "Need to get out of here -- but hard!"

Now, talking on the phone with McMahon, Ruzicka sounded upbeat. In the past few days, she had obtained a document that was her holy grail: a detailed report showing that the U.S. military keeps its own civilian-casualty records, something the Pentagon has repeatedly denied.

Ruzicka's methodology, on behalf of Iraq's war victims, often involved a lot of cajoling of high-level brass at Camp Victory, the military headquarters near the Baghdad International Airport. To get there, she had to drive on the notorious airport road, one of the most dangerous thoroughfares in the world. It is a frequent site of suicide bombings, ambushes and other insurgent attacks. It's also an efficient route, connecting central Baghdad to points west.

The airport road is banked on both sides by housing complexes, heavily populated by people with military training and access to weapons. Ironically, it was once the most secure road in Iraq, as Saddam's particular brand of paranoia forced him to place guards at every overpass and exit. Today, it is the key military and contractors' supply route, which makes it one of the most high-value targets in Iraq, despite several U.S. military checkpoints. There are rules for driving on the airport road, the most important one being: Never get stuck behind a U.S. convoy, which is a suicide bomber's prime target. But this can be difficult, as security contractors, who drive in convoys of armored SUVs, fly down the highway at 90 mph. McMahon assumed Ruzicka was meeting with some Iraqi victims in Baghdad. But he never asked where she was going, and Ruzicka didn't offer any information. "I think it'll be fine," she told him breezily at the end of their brief phone call. Then she hung up. McMahon went back to work.

[Drew68]

Ruzicka in Baghdad

I excerpted this long but well-written article.

I read it in the dead tree edition of Rolling Stone magazine (yep, I subscribe) and I must say that I was expecting an sympathetic epitaph to a beautiful young "peace" activist murdered by Bush's misguided foreign policy (this being Rolling Stone).

When I finished the article I found myself surprised to have read an engrossing story of the tragically short life of a very troubled young woman.

When she was killed there were many who compared her to bulldozed Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie. After reading this essay, the comparisions could not be more wrong. She may have started out as a Bay Area liberal activist but it appears she did not die as one.

[Poser]

Too bad she got killed.

If she had just been there to help, she might still be alive.

[SteveMcKing]

We don't reference Rolling Stone here, except to disparage it.

She could have been a serial killer, and they would call her a saint to advance their Left agenda.

[Drew68]

If she had just been there to help, she might still be alive.

Not quite sure what you mean by that. She was blown up by a suicide bomber who was targeting a convoy.

[BenLurkin]

Wasn't she working for the other side?

[Drew68]

Glad to know she's on our side. Maybe she can do her indictment on Radio Pacifica in the afterlife.

The report was presented to her by a high-ranking U.S. general in Baghdad. I hardly call this treasonous.

[SittinYonder]

mark

[Drew68]

Wasn't she working for the other side?

No. The article makes it clear that her anti-war position had changed in the face of the havoc caused by the insurgents. She bagn to belive that war was sometimes necessary and that these insurgents were animals.

From the article:

"These people are f---ing demonic," said McMahon.

"And can you f---ing believe there are people in the USA who call them 'resistance fighters?' " Ruzicka added.

She wasn't talking about the military.

[Nathan Zachary]

Many of these do gooders from the left side go to these places and quickly find that all is not as they had believed. They go as leftists, comeback on the right.
There is a web site somewhere where you can read about their experiences, and their "awakening".

[Drew68]

Many of these do gooders from the left side go to these places and quickly find that all is not as they had believed. They go as leftists, comeback on the right.

While Ruzicka hardly became conservative it appears that actually being there in person changed her world view a bit. This should not be surprising as so many leftists are completely detached from the real world. Lefty Marla actually had the tenacity and courage to go see for herself and guess what? She discovered that terrorists are bad people! Rachel Corrie did the same thing but she became one of the terrorists. There is a difference.

Marla went over there trying to help injured Iraqi civilians only to discover many were injured by the actions of terrorist "resistance fighters" --a term she despised.

There is a web site somewhere where you can read about their experiences, and their "awakening".

I'd like to read this if you find a link.

[Cecily]

Well, Mikey Moore won't be pleased that she dissed his beloved "Minutemen" in such a fashion.

[Publius6961]

A Rachel Corey wannabe.
Also a traitor.

There is a reason why, until recently, living among the enemy and catering to the care and health of their "civilian victims" was considered and treated as treason; in the whole of recorded history, all 6000 years of it.

None of this traveling back and forth between home haven and the enemy.
I reject the "progressive" notion that such behavior is acceptable, albeit might be considered "tolerant" and "enoightened". It gets our fellow citizens killed.

[Drew68]

bagn to belive

Damn! Began to believe. Really gotta spell check before I hit post.

[Drew68]

There is a reason why, until recently, living among the enemy and catering to the care and health of their "civilian victims" was considered and treated as treason; in the whole of recorded history, all 6000 years of it.

Iraqi civilians maimed by insurgents are the enemy? I must've missed that.

[Treader]

This article is attempting to sanitize her "work." It is extremely improbable, that a US General gave her a civilian b/c list. There is more to come from Soros' orchestrating of this activist's story, namely- the supposed "intell" she gathered from an anonymous General.

[Poser]

Check the source and then question the content. Now, go and read more on her activities in Iraq from a variety of sources. Then, form your opinion of her activities.

[Poser]

Check the source and then question the content. Now, go and read more on her activities in Iraq from a variety of sources. Then, form your opinion of her activities.

[Drew68]

What is the purpose of obtaining such a report? It would certainly have been used against the US military by the world press, no question in my mind.

Well, the report would likely contradict the left's absurd claims that 100,000+ Iraqis have been killed by US forces.

And what source do you have that a high-ranking general gave her such a report? Rolling Stone?

No other source. Yes, I'll take it with several grains of salt.

If the Pentagon says it does not compile such reports and an activist journalist has a report that says exactly the opposite, what would be the end result?

Here's my point. Who honestly believes that the Pentagon does *not* count civilian deaths? Of course they do! The fact that they are so afraid of releasing these numbers only makes it look like they have something to hide. The Pentagon needs to realize that most people in America support the war. We are not stupid, we know civilians get killed in war. The only number that people constantly hear from is the bogus 100,000 figure that the left craps out at every opportunity!

As someone in the military I can't help but wonder about the logic behind some of the Pentagon's decisions.

Furthermore, Ruzicka was not ostracized by the US military in Iraq. Quite the opposite. She was treated regularly for depression by a military doctor and freely accessed military installations.