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.

[doug from upland]

I had never heard of her and didn't know she was engaged in anti-American activities. Do you have a link?

[BJungNan]

God rest her soul. She was trying to give comfort to others.

Despite her politics, you do have to give her that.

[Bonaparte]

"...another Leftist martyr."

And not just any leftist martyr. "St. Marla" was amassing "photographic evidence" and "testimonials" of all the "atrocities" resulting from America's intervention -- plenty of grist for the propagandists back home.

[doug from upland]

Thanks for the info. I didn't know she worked for America-hating Benjamin.

[Texas_Jarhead]

May her anti-American ass rest in peace.

[processing please hold]

Killed surveying civilian deaths.

There has to be some irony in there somewhere.

You took the words right outta ma mouth. The poor darling.

[jimbo123]

This woman was doing the same civilian body count thing in Afghanistan when we were liberated those people a few years ago. She has always been an anti-American traitor and a useful idiot to our nation's enemies. Funny how she bolted Afghanistan after we freed it. If she cared about those people, why didn't she stay to help rebuild their schools?

[Southack]

Cuba: Talking About Revolution : Converstions With Juan Antonio Blanco (Paperback)
by Juan Antonio Blanco, Medea Benjamin

[sgtbono2002]

Why didnt she just make up a figure for how many died isnt that what the left usually does? Isnt that what the anti-cigarette people do when they say how many died from cigarettes? Just make it up , let others refute it .

[Poser]

Yes. You are reading it right now. Check the article at the top and some of the links posted in this thread.

[FreedomSurge]

I don't understand your comment. A huge deal was made of a Lancet study which said 100,000 Iraqis were killed by the US led invasion.

The 100,000 number lost its force when it was revealed that the number was an estimate based on 63 confirmed deaths.

It sounds to me that she was part of a group trying to justify the 100,000 number - an anti-US political activity - not a benign ministering to the needy.

[Chi-townChief]

Got a link for that one?

[hosepipe]

Lets see.. Go to a war zone and count civilian causality's
WHILE THE WAR IS GOIN ON..

DUUUUuuuuh... The gene pool is better off, today..

[Poser]

"Traitorous? Not at all, if her intentions were true, her numbers accurate, and her reasons honest. "

Sarcasm noted.

[Southack]

See #24 and #48.

[Wormwood]

She's an opponent, certainly, but at least she showed "the courage of her convictions." It's not like she sat in some lesbian bar in Frisco and badmouthed the U.S. She went out and *did* something.

It would have been better for America if she *had* simply sat in a bar with her commie friends and badmouthed the USA.

She was actively agitating against our country. Not all eyes will weep for her.

[cripplecreek]

What disgusts me the most is the fact that Medea the moron simply uses the death as another number to further her goals.

[nothingnew]

Marla Ruzicka, a Global Exchange field worker in Afghanistan, said the most common factor behind the civilian deaths has been an American reliance on incomplete information to decide on targets. "Smart bombs are only as smart as people on the ground," Ms. Ruzicka said. "Before you bomb, you should be 100 percent certain of who you are bombing." So what is this Global Exchange, which Filkins describes only as "an American organization"? A look at its Web site makes clear it's a far-left outfit that opposed any military intervention in Afghanistan. Blogger Michael Moynihan has more details on Marla Ruzicka, who turns out to be a fervent admirer of Fidel Castro. There's also a "report" on the 2000 election dispute from the World Socialist Web Site, which quotes her as suggesting Republicans are terrorists: Marla Ruzicka, 23, an officially accredited observer from the Green Party, commented on the tactics of the Bush supporters. She described them as "really nasty. There was one guy with a bald head, like a skinhead. They surrounded me and called me a baby killer, because of my support for the right to abortion. When I pointed out Bush's presiding over the death penalty, they said: no, no, that's justice. They're scary. Maybe they're the ones who should be on the terrorist lists." Ruzicka, of course, is entitled to her opinions--but surely her extremist political agenda is relevant to Filkins's readers in determining how much weight to give to her comments. Meanwhile, buried in the 16th paragraph of Filkins's story is an admission that the whole thing is trumped up: "Indeed, the extraordinary accuracy of American airstrikes since they began in October has produced few of the types of disasters that plagued past wars, when bombs aimed at one target hit something else instead." Oh well, never mind.[WSJ Opinion Page--James Taranto]

FMCDH(BITS)

[Bonaparte]

Scroll down a bit to Who Is Marla Ruzicka?. She fed anti-American propaganda to the NYT, which gleefully printed it as fact. She was also given to comparing American conservatives to skin-heads and suggesting that terrorists should target us. Behind her "humanitarian" facade, she was a nasty piece of work.