Smokinf Mirrors:
A Tribute to Marla Ruzicka (1976-2005)
I
confess that a year ago, when I heard of the tragic death of a woman I
had never heard of before that night, I cried. Marla Ruzicka, a young
Californian woman, was killed by a car bomb in Baghdad on April 16
2005, along with her friend and co-worker Faiz Ali Salim. She had
travelled extensively to both Afghanistan and Iraq, her main mission to
try to get aid to civilians who have been harmed by the US wars in both
countries. In an online journal entry on June 25 2004, she had this,
almost prophetically, to say:
"Back
in Baghdad and happy. 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." We know that leading up
to the handover there is a high alert warning, but who knows what will
happen on July 2nd or 3rd. CIVIC must continue our work. Faiz does a
fantastic job when I am out of the country, but I need to be here as
well. We are not taking any risks, and keeping our movements low. Well,
the handover happened and thank god the last couple of days there have
been no major car bombs"
Marla
founded the organisation, CIVIC (The Campaign for the Innocent Victims
of Conflict), around the time that Saddam' statue toppled from its
foundations in the centre of Baghdad. While the US government and
military were staging their effigy-destruction, Marla was undertaking
the first door to door survey of Iraq, with the aim of trying to get a
clear picture on what the number of Iraqi civilian casualties actually
were. It was not until December 2005 that President Bush actually
acknowledged Iraqi civilian casualties.
The
aim of CIVIC has been to lobby government to recognise the needs of
families inadvertently affected by war: the innocent victims left
without houses and medical care. Marlafs work was beginning to bear
fruit. She took her first report on Iraqi casualties and injuries to
the Democratic Senator for Vermont, Patrick
Leahy, who, according to CIVIC, sponsored legislation to provide U.S.
aid to innocent Iraqis who were harmed in the military operations.
CIVIC has adopted this legislation for its framework.
One
year on, CIVIC is honouring the memory of Marla by continuing her work.
Sarah Holewinski, who joined the organisation in January 2006 after
years of policy and humanitarian work in Washington, New York, and
internationally in India and Rwanda, wrote an op-ed piece in The
Washington Post (15 April 2006) to mark the one year passing of Marla
and to talk about the progress CIVIC has made in the past 12 months.
"To America's credit, we've made some progress on the issue of
civilian casualties," she wrote. "The Pentagon has a program of
condolence payments -- a way for the military on the ground to directly
compensate a family for the death of a loved one." She further
explained that, among many other achievements, Congress created the
"Marla Ruzicka Iraqi War Victims Fund" and a similar fund for
Afghanistan, with a total of $38 million for families and communities
of those injured and killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But,
adds Ms Holewinski, there is still a lot of work for CIVIC to do,
explaining, gceven these are baby steps at best. The 30,000
casualties cited by Bush is the bare minimum estimatec[t]he
president's spokesman was quick to say that this was not an official
estimate. "We know that's true, because the United States does not keep
adequate records of civilian casualties. And the military's program of
condolence payments -- while important -- suffers from weaknesses that
prevent compensation to many families that need it most." 
Marla Ruzicka (pic: CIVIC)
Ms
Holewinski is concerned that with the rise of the insurgency in Iraq,
it is getting increasingly difficult for aid to get to those who
desperately need it. Even worse, she adds, are the threats metered out
to people if they accept help from Americans. "Although experienced
military officers have learned that treating civilians well is critical
to their mission, the U.S. search for an exit strategy may encourage
tactics that put civilians at greater risk -- including more reliance
on airstrikes to target insurgents. In populated areas, this makes it
all the more likely that civilians will be hit."
I
can't begin to describe the deeply profound effect Marlafs death had
on me the night I read her obituary, quite by mistake. To have achieved
so much in such a short time on earth is truly remarkable and
inspiring, and reading of the progress CIVIC has made, one year on, is
truly reflective of the fact that her and Fiaz will not be forgotten.
Marla would be proud to know that her work is continuing to pave the
way for the betterment of innocent peoplefs lives so devastated by
war. In Marlafs own words: gTo have a job where you can make things
better for people? That's a blessing. Why would I do anything else?"
For more information on CIVIC go to: http://www.civicworldwide.org/
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