RIP Marla Ruzicka: A war victims' advocate becomes a victim of war

Salt shakers
May 2005

RIP Marla Ruzicka: A war victims' advocate becomes a victim of war
The victims of "collateral damage" in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanstan lost one of their few protectors on April 16 when 28-year-old Marla Ruzicka became a collateral victim of violence herself. She was killed by a car bomb along a dangerous stretch of the airport road into Baghdad. The intended target was a passing military convoy, but the suicide bomber managed to kill Ruzicka, a co-worker, Faiz al Salaam, and two other passersby.

After struggling to raise awareness of civilian casualties in Afghanistan and fighting through U.S. military bureaucracy to seek just compensation for people killed, injured, or suffering material losses because of U.S. military actions, Ruzicka made her way to Iraq, where she founded a humanitarian organization called "Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict," (CIVIC Worldwide: http://www.civicworldwide.org/). She has been one of the few voices demanding an accurate accounting of civilian casualities during the Iraq occupation as well as adequate monetary relief for killed or injured Iraqis or their survivors. Ruzicka had prolonged her stay in Baghdad on this trip, according to press reports, because she believed she had found evidence that U.S. authorities, despite long-term statements to the contrary, were indeed keeping accurate track of civilian casualty figures in Iraq.

Remembered as an unlikely but passionate advocate by journalists and aid workers who knew her, Ruzicka's peppy demeanor was a stark contrast to the grim work she undertook. A native of Lakeport, California, Ruzicka had also lobbied hard for legislation, now being sponsored by Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, to formalize compensation procedures for civilian victims of war.

In a statement on the floor of the Senate, Leahy noted her passing: "Marla has been called many things. An angel of mercy. A ray of sunshine in an often dangerous and dark world. One person who knew her well described Marla as being as close to a living saint as they come, and I suspect that's how many of us feel. Speaking for myself, I have never met, nor do I ever expect to meet again, someone so young who gave so much of herself to so many people, and who made such a difference doing it."

Ruzicka's work in Iraq was inherently dangerous. Interviewing Iraqi victims and documenting their losses often required that Ruzicka and Faiz travel on roads that were far from secure in vehicles that were as unprotected as those of any of the people she sought to help. In one of her final journal entries, she wrote: “A good friend of mine advised me to keep my movements minimal in the coming days, saying, ‘Just think of all the work you will be able to do in three months when the situation is better because you were not killed by a bomb.’”

Unfortunately her work did not allow a break for a cooling-off period: “We have been working on submitting more compensation cases and encouraging the military to pay them out. In order to submit a case we have to drive out to the airport. The ride is not pleasant, military convoys passing every moment. Faiz and I hold our breath—such convoys in that area are the target of rockets and fire from the resistance . . . ” And it was in just such an attack that she lost her life.

According to Iraq Body Count, as of May 2, 24,106 civilians have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war. Marla Ruzicka was one of them.—Kevin Clarke

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