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April 18, 2005
Marla Ruzicka Herself Becomes a Victim of War
Marla Ruzicka, who tried very hard to help victims of war in Iraq, has died in a carbomb attack. Her organization's (Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)) website says that she was on her way to visit an Iraqi child injured by a bomb, a part of her constant effort to document and help civilian victims. I had been following her work from the time she was in Afghanistan -- she had been trying to get a count of the civilian casualties, a number that seems to interest very few people. Ruzicka's Iraqi colleague, Faiz Ali Salim, was also killed.
I think the Christian Science Monitor story, written by a correspondent who knew here well, says it best:
The only thing we can say now is at least she died doing what she wanted, doing what she really, really believed in. If she were still here, she'd be most worried now about her driver's family and who will take care of all the other Iraqi families she was working with.She would point out, this happens to Iraqis every day and no one notices or even cares. There are no newspaper articles or investigations into what happens to them.
Marla and Faiz were on the road to the airport because that's the road all Iraqis seeking compensation or help from the American forces must travel:
The blast also killed Ruzicka's longtime Iraqi aide and driver, Faiz Ali Salim, 43, as they drove the road to a U.S. military base by the airport, where foreigners travel for flights out of the country and where Iraqis go to ask for help from the American forces."The ride is not pleasant. Military convoys passing every moment. Faiz and I hold our breath," Ruzicka wrote on June 25, 2004, in her online journal. "Such convoys in that area are the target of rockets and fire from the resistance. It would be nice if there was a more secure location for Iraqis to seek compensation."
It's very well known that road to the airport is one of the most dangerous roads. It's hard not to conclude that Marla and Faiz were victims of a policy that was obviously meant to make it hard for Iraqis to seek compensation.
Here's what I want to know most. Marla had apparently come to the conclusion that the U.S. military did indeed keep records of its civilian victims:
This time Ruzicka stayed in Baghdad longer than she had planned because she believed she had found the key to establishing that the U.S. military kept records of its civilian victims, despite its official statements otherwise, colleagues said.
This certainly sounds plausible; that they would count but not disclose. And it also sounds plausible that Marla could have found out about it, with her endless energy and ability to befriend everyone. I wonder if we will ever know what she had just been learning.
To say she will be missed is such an understatement.
Posted by zeynep at April 18, 2005 12:29 AM
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