The agony of war

The death of US aid worker Marla Ruzicka (28) in Iraq

By Bob Herbert, NY Times, April 25, 2005

"The vast amount of suffering and death endured by civilians as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq has, for the most part, been carefully kept out of the consciousness of the average American. I can't think of anything the Bush administration would like to talk about less. You can't put a positive spin on dead children. ...

"More than 600 people attended Ms. Ruzicka's funeral on Saturday in her hometown of Lakeport, Calif. Among them was Bobby Muller, chairman of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation. A former Marine lieutenant, he knows something about the agony of war. His spinal cord was severed when he was shot in the back in Vietnam. He told the mourners: 'Marla demonstrated that an individual can make a profound difference in this world. Her life was dedicated to innocent victims of conflict, exactly what she ended up being.'"
Source: NY Times

Marla Ruzicka Lived, Died for Her Cause
"The global justice movement, at least in its current incarnation, is a young cause. Rooted in the anti-sweatshop campaigns of the 1990s and thrust onto the world stage by the Seattle anti-WTO protests of 1999, the movement remains overwhelmingly youthful in composition, leadership and spirit.

"As such, it has experienced few deaths of comrades - particularly among the legions of activists in the United States. Until now.

"Marla Ruzicka, the 28-year-old head of the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, which worked to aid civilian victims of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, was killed Saturday on the road from Baghdad to that city's airport when her car was apparently caught between a suicide car bomber and a U.S. military convoy."
Source: Common Dreams

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