Marla Ruzicka: American Greatness

She has been called an angel: an angel of mercy or a  Menschensrecht-Engel.  I didn't know Marla, but from the accounts of her family and friends I think she might have described herself a moral American. Her calculus was simple: the American military has killed innocent people ergo it  is the responsibility of America to help their survivors.  With a combination of idealistic optimism and entrepreneurial savvy she helped more families in Iraq  as one individual than all of the American evangelical Christian organizations combined.  Bernd Pickert has a nice summary of her accomplishments in the taz:

Marla Ruzicka gründete ihre eigene Organisation, die "Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict" (Civic), als Ein-Frau-Organisation, die zunächst von nichts lebte als von Ruzickas Aktivismus - in Afghanistan, Irak und in Washington. Mit ihrer jugendlich-charmanten Art, die von vielen, die sie kannten, als mädchenhaft naiv, aber sehr entschlossen beschrieben wird, trieb sie Geld auf. Und sie brachte den demokratischen Senator Patrick Leahy aus Vermont dazu, im US-Senat ein Gesetz zur Entschädigung ziviler Opfer des Irakkrieges einzubringen. Mehr als 25 Millionen Dollar Entschädigung ist inzwischen für die Betreuung irakischer Kriegsopfer bewilligt worden.

Americans have shifted their attention from the war in Iraq to other concerns such as high gasoline prices and the Michael Jackson trial.  But the war goes on and across the US families are ripped apart every day by what is going on there, unreported in the US press. As Max Blumenthal writes in a moving tribute on  his blog, we will need a "million Marlas" to undo the damage from this war:

In her quest to end the war, Marla came to reject reactionary posturing and shrill rhetoric. Instead, she went to Iraq to work to assuage the wounds America had exacted on innocent Iraqis. She went to help. And she found herself working hand in hand with occupation bureaucrats, journalists and military officers, all to get help where it was needed. It's true Marla had a background as a protester. But in the end, she was not a screamer or a bomb thrower. She was a healer. And she was only 28.

This war is like a tumor that keep growing. It is a malignant lie that chews up young bodies like they never contained souls. And when it is declared over and official amnesia is prescribed, its legacy will poison hearts for generations to come. That's inevitable. Only a million Marla Ruzickas will be able to fix the damage this war has done. As impossible as that sounds, just look at how much one was able to do.

You can read Marla's journals here and donate to her non-profit group here.

Comments

[Kuch]

Clearly, we all mourn the loss of this courageous woman. Her voice, which was one of deep caring for others, is surely part of "The American Experiment."

However, why must those on the left take veiled shots at others in order to sing her praises? "With a combination of idealistic optimism and entrepreneurial savvy she helped more families in Iraq as one individual than all of the American evangelical Christian organizations combined." Can you provide some sort of documentation for this statement? You make no effort to advertise the fact that four Baptist Christians from the US were also killed in Iraq last year. You only make an effort to announce your opionion that her efforts far exceed those of Christian Organizations. We should all refrain from keeping some sort of a scorecard for these efforts.

Even the right-leaning NY Post saw through Ms. Ruzicka's politics enough to write a thoughtful and respectful article about her death. http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/42908.htm But, when we read so-called "liberal" commentary, a shot at American Christians is almost automatic.

[David]

I would just point out that it was Marla - not the Baptist Church - who got Congress to free up $25 million to help the survivors of non-combatant Iraqis killed by American troops. I have not heard any Baptist leaders speak out about the fate of these Iraqis - nor have they spoken out about prisoner abuse or extraordinary rendition (outsourcing torture). They have been too busy demonizing gays and lesbians and harassing school boards that promote the teaching of science (evolution).

[Kuch]

There you go again... Throwing darts at American Christians (80% of Americans consider themselves to be of Christian faith). Like I wrote earlier, Marla was a wonderful and caring person; not unlike the vast majority of her fellow Americans. All you can say is that it was not the American Baptists who forced congress to fund aid to innocent Iraqi victims. While it is true that Marla lobbied congress to provide specific funding to Iraqi innocents, the amount of this bill (I have seen figures of $10 million) is a drop in the bucket compared to total aid funding for Iraq by the US government.

Well before the Leahy bill, the US congress proposed an additional $600 million of PL-480 funding. At that time $269 million of aid had already been distributed to needy Iraqis. See the Kohl ammendment for additional information regarding this...http://www.senate.gov/~kohl/food.html

The funding for her organization also is a drop in the bucket compared to monies that are spent elsewhere. Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict operates on a yearly $100,000 budget, funded largely by a George Soros organization. How much money does he send to MoveOn.org?... and what does this say about priorities?

It is fair to say that American Baptists have struggled with the issue of normalizing Gay and Lesbian relationships, I don't believe this is "gay bashing." After all, it was the American Baptists who first had an openly gay pastor back in 1992. They also blessed same sex unions in the same year.

[David]

Kuch -
That is good news about American Baptists blessing same sex unions. I guess this is different from the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) which has been leading pro-discrimination efforts.

I belonged to the 80% you refer to until the run-up to the Iraq War; I was ashamed by the tepid opposition by many Protestant groups and the outright embrace of war by the SBC. I have "dropped out" for the time being to examine my faith and my commitment to any organized religion.

I do not know what Marla's religious convictions were, or whether she was motivated by faith, but it seems to me she led an exemplary Christian life. Perhaps she is representative of the "unconscious Christian ethic" Dietrich Bonhoeffer mentions in his Letters from Prison.

-David