posted April 18, 2005 07:29 PM              

Published: April 18, 2005

In an e-mail message to a friend, Marla Ruzicka described the girl sitting on her lap in a Baghdad photo: "This is Harah, she was 3 mts old when her mom threw her out of the window of the car and all her family members died when a US rocket hit the car - now she is big and healthy - we help her - thought you would like to see the photos."

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 17 - For more than two years, Marla Ruzicka worked to get help for innocent civilians caught in cross-fires here. A 28-year-old Californian with blond hair and an electric smile, she ran a one-woman aid group.

On Saturday afternoon, Ms. Ruzicka became a casualty herself. A suicide bomber attacked a convoy of security contractors that was passing near her car on the airport road in Baghdad, killing her and her Iraqi driver, United States Embassy officials in Baghdad said.

Ms. Ruzicka had worked in Afghanistan as well as Iraq. She took great risks, often traveling to talk to Iraqis without the guards and armored cars that reporters here tend to rely on. She also had an extraordinary gift for promoting her cause, whether in Iraq or Washington.

She worked with Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, to get $2.5 million for civilian victims in Afghanistan, and later, $10 million for victims in Iraq. Last week another $10 million was authorized for the Iraq program.

"She was the one that persuaded us," Mr. Leahy said Sunday afternoon in a telephone interview. "Here's someone who at 28 years old did more than most people do in a lifetime."

Ms. Ruzicka was deceptively girlish in person. She often arranged parties for the foreign correspondents here and in Afghanistan. She was in her element, with her distinctive giggle always audible over the music. But she used the occasions to lobby reporters to write about the things that mattered to her.

The evening before she died, she visited this reporter in Baghdad to talk about civilian casualties. She spoke with affection about a 2-year-old girl she was helping, whose parents and other relatives were killed by a missile in 2003.

"She calls me bride Marla because of my hair," she said happily of the girl, Harah.

Ms. Ruzicka had also obtained new numbers on civilian casualties from the American military, which does not normally release them, and was eager to talk.

"Together we could really make a difference," she had written earlier in a typical e-mail message. "You could go home feeling extra good."

Born in Lakeport, Calif., Ms. Ruzicka came to activism early. At the age of 15, she walked into the offices of Global Exchange, a leftist advocacy group in San Francisco, and collected all its brochures. Later, she persuaded an organizer at the group to give a talk at her high school.

In her early 20's she was an angry activist, and was once was hauled off by police after protesting during a speech by George W. Bush, then governor of Texas.

Later, she changed her tactics. In 2002, she attended a Senate hearing where Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld testified about Iraq. Afterward, she walked up and shook his hand.

"I didn't scream," she said recently. "I thanked him for testifying. And I started talking about civilian casualties," she said, laughing.

By then she had already spent time in Afghanistan, where she stunned and ultimately impressed many aid workers and journalists with her ability to get help for victims. She came to Iraq in 2003 and founded her organization, Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict.

In the past year she moved to New York, but she still spent much of her time in Iraq. She was planning to go home in about a week.

On the day she was killed, Ms. Ruzicka was visiting Iraqi families that had lost relatives to the violence here. She sent a text message to a friend saying the stories had been painful to hear.

An American Army officer who arrived on the scene shortly after the bomber struck said that Ms. Ruzicka's car was engulfed in flames, and that she was still alive and conscious, with burns over 90 percent of her body.

A medic on the scene treated her, said the officer, Brig. Gen. Karl Horst, and heard her last words.

posted April 18, 2005 07:59 PM              

Jonathan Steele
Tuesday April 19, 2005
The Guardian

Marla Ruzicka, who has been killed by a car bomber near Baghdad airport, was an extraordinary, one-person American aid agency, who worked tirelessly to get compensation for victims of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Though only 28 when she died, she was an unusual mixture of charm, ebullience, adventure-seeking and tireless dedication to helping ordinary people whose lives had been shattered.
She lobbied journalists and diplomats with equal persistence, but loved nothing better than to sit with wretched families after the spotlight had moved on, record every detail of their stories, go out and campaign for official apologies and compensation - and then stay in touch to keep them informed.

On the day she died, on Iraq's most dangerous road, she had been out talking to bereaved families. Her driver/translator, Faiz Al Salaam, who also died, worked with her for almost two years. An unemployed pilot when she hired him, he had started flying for Iraq Air again, and, as the father of a two-month-old daughter, wanted to give up the danger of his work with Marla. But she was due to leave Baghdad this week, and he stayed on out of loyalty.

They were driving, by chance, near a convoy of foreign contractors' vehicles, which were the bomber's target. Dressed in a long black abbaya , the head-to-toe covering which most western women now wear in Baghdad as protection, Marla used an ordinary car.

Looking like a teenager - and with her bubbly enthusiasm and girlish shriek of a laugh - she was not always taken seriously when she arrived in her first big war zone, Afghanistan, just after the Taliban were ousted in December 2001. Unlike most aid workers, she cultivated journalists, and wanted to know where the next party was.

But her commitment to getting help for the forgotten was ferocious. One of her first actions in Kabul was to help organise a visit by American women who had lost family members on 9/11. They wanted to meet Afghan families whose homes had been destroyed by American bombs.

Marla campaigned relentlessly by telephone and email, as well as by personal lobbying, and persuaded US Senator Patrick Leahy to put an amendment into a foreign aid bill to give $2.5m for Afghan victims. It was not described as compensation, since the US did not wish to take formal responsibility, but Marla visited families all over Afghanistan, drew up lists of names, and helped to ensure that the money was distributed to the right people.

In Afghanistan, she was working for Global Exchange, a non-governmental organisation based in San Francisco. After the Iraq war, she created her own charity, CIVIC (Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict). One aim was to keep a running account of the number of civilian deaths, but it quickly became an effort to help individuals.

In an essay sent to Human Rights Watch shortly before she died, Marla wrote: "A number is important not only to quantify the cost of the war, but, to me, each number is also a story of someone whose hopes, dreams and potential will never be realised, and who left behind a family."

She continued her lobbying and got $20m for victims in Iraq. She also developed contacts in the US military, trying to get them to describe otherwise unreported incidents, and take responsibility. In a typical entry from her journal, published on AlterNet on November 6 2003, she reported: "On October 24, former teacher Mohammad Kadhum Mansoor, 59, and his wife, Hamdia Radhi Kadhum, 45, were travelling with their three daughters - Beraa, 21, Fatima, 8, and Ayat, 5 - when they were tragically run over by an American tank.

"A grenade was thrown at the tank, causing it to lose control and veer on to the highway, over the family's small Volkswagen. Mohammad and Hamdia were killed instantly, orphaning the three girls in the back seat. The girls survived, but with broken and fractured bodies. We are not sure of Ayat's fate; her backbone is broken.

"CIVIC staff member Faiz Al Salaam monitors the girls' condition each day. Nobody in the military or the US army has visited them, nor has anyone offered to help this very poor family."

Born in the small town of Lakeport, California, Marla became politically active at the age of 15, when she was suspended from high school for leading a protest against the first Gulf war. While at Long Island University, she travelled extensively, visiting Cuba, Guatemala, southern Africa and the West Bank. She was already working as a volunteer for Global Exchange.

Despite her exuberant exterior, she was not always happy, and her activism was sometimes both an obsession and a therapy. For exercise in Baghdad, she regularly stormed up and down the pool at the al Hamra hotel, the headquarters of the newspapers which preferred not to have large, guarded villas. She rarely relaxed.

Last new year's eve, she emailed friends: "2005 is going to rock for you all and me too ... I write to you from the Himalayan mountains, where I am on a seven-day trek. Wow, is my mind clear, and I have many goals for 2005. After my trek, I'll work on a campaign to protect Nepalese activists - there have been over 3,000 disappearances here - more than Colombia. Then I am off to Afghanistan to check on the families who lost loved ones in Operation Enduring Freedom."

Marla had also been planning to spend more time fundraising in the US. She had an initial grant from George Soros's Open Society Institute, but wanted to develop more sources.

After the Iraq election in January, she decided to make another trip to Baghdad. Medea Benjamin, her original mentor at Global Exchange, tried to dissuade her because of the increased danger. "I thought it would be better to wait for a while and see if the situation got better than to put her life at risk," she told the Los Angeles Times. "She was determined to go because the people she worked with didn't have the luxury not to be at risk."

posted May 21, 2005 09:50 PM              

Clementina Cantoni has worked in Afghanistan for three years.


KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Aid agencies pasted hundreds of posters of a kidnapped Italian relief worker across the Afghan capital Saturday, urging people to come forward with information about her whereabouts, and the country's president called for her release.

The move came a day after foreign media reports quoted Temur Shah, the purported kidnapper of Clementina Cantoni, 32, as saying that he killed her because the government did not agree to his demands. However, the Italian's employer, CARE International, said it was uncertain about the accuracy of the reports.

"Please help Clementina. She has been taken. For three years she served 10,000 widows and 50,000 war orphans in Afghanistan. If you have any information, please call," the posters said.

President Hamid Karzai also called for her release.

"Whoever has kidnapped her is the enemy of Afghanistan. We know who kidnapped her and we know why he has kidnapped her," he told reporters. "We want her to be released securely and healthy."

Cantoni was kidnapped on Monday in the capital, Kabul, while driving. Since then, hundreds of police have manned roadblocks and searched poor neighborhoods where they suspect she may be held captive.

Shortly after the reports emerged about the hostage being killed, Shah contradicted the reports telling The Associated Press by telephone that he had brought a doctor to treat Cantoni and that she was OK. He did not say what the medical problem was.

"She is fine. We brought a doctor to her today," he said.

Presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin said in an interview broadcast on independent Tolo TV that the government was still "working very seriously to secure her release." He made the comment after the reports emerged that Cantoni had been killed.

Shah threatened in an interview with Tolo TV earlier in the week that he would kill her by Wednesday if the government didn't meet his demands for more Islamic schools, more aid for opium farmers and the removal of a liberal radio show from the airwaves. Then, in subsequent interviews, Shah extended the deadline until Thursday.

Authorities have said they suspect the kidnapping was the work of the same criminal gang accused of abducting three U.N. workers last year. They were released a month later.

Cantoni's abduction, which has caused anguish across Italy, follows several attacks on foreigners in the capital, long regarded as one of the country's safest places.

On May 7, a suicide bomber blew himself up in an Internet cafe, killing a U.N. worker from Myanmar. Last month, an American civilian was abducted but escaped by throwing himself from a moving car.
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/05/21/afghan.italy.ap/

posted May 22, 2005 06:30 AM              

quote:

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That's Life. Everyone has got to die sometime.--DayDreamer

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how cold.....

posted May 22, 2005 08:06 AM              

22 May 2005

ROME - The kidnappers of Italian aid worker Clementina Cantoni in Afghanistan announced a new deadline to run out on Sunday afternoon, according to Italian television reports.

The hostage takers also said that the 32-year old was still alive but suffering from an eye infection, the reports said.

An earlier ultimatum had passed days ago. The kidnappers are not believed to be terrorists but local criminals who demand the release of a number of prisoners from Afghan jails.

Cantoni, who works for CARE international, a non-governmental relief agency, had spoken with an Afghan negotiator via telephone on Saturday, the reports said.

Meanwhile, the Afghan government was continuing efforts to negotiate her relief. Without providing further details President Hamid Karzai said Saturday it was known who had kidnapped the care worker and why.

Cantoni was kidnapped last Monday while driving her car in central Kabul.

Last year, two female Italian aid workers abducted in Iraq had been freed after being held hostage for weeks. Despite official government denials, many reports said that Italy had provided ransom for the release of the women. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2005/May/subcontinent_May858.xml§ion=subcontinent

posted May 24, 2005 10:05 PM              

quote:

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To quote out of context is to remove a passage from its surrounding matter in such a way as to distort its meaning.....

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Yes, and that is what you did! You removed the rest of the passage and twisted what I meant! Yes that is part of life. People are murdered every freaking day in war! Unfortunately, that is reality! I have deep compassion and love for those women and everyone else helping out innocent civilians!

quote:

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how cold.....
there are those of us who hope Clementina will be released.....

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You don't seriously think I am that cold? That I hope for her not to be released!?! I told you I thought she was killed! End of story!

Your intentions are too clear, and I was offended by them! It appears to me you are looking for ways to start something with me!?! Petron, I don’t care to argue with you.

posted May 24, 2005 10:34 PM              

if you had just said "oops sorry i didnt mean it like that"...i wouldnt have even replied to you ....but you tacked on the accusation that some other un-named arguments of mine are invalid....because you think i quoted your words out of context.....

posted May 24, 2005 11:41 PM              

youre the 1 who says youre offended....
i am sorry about that, i humbly apologize for my rude behavior....

posted May 24, 2005 11:49 PM              

It was just a silly misunderstanding

Apology accepted

posted May 24, 2005 11:56 PM              

guess....

posted May 25, 2005 12:04 AM              

First guess...I think you are a female.
Second guess...a male

posted June 09, 2005 07:22 PM              

*****

Kidnapped Italian aid worker in Afghanistan released

Friday, June 10, 2005 at 07:36 JST
KABUL — Clementina Cantoni, a 32-year-old Italian aid worker kidnapped last month in Kabul, has been released, the Interior Ministry said Thursday. Interior Ministry Ali Ahmad Jalali said at a news conference Cantoni is well. He added that no ransom was paid.

Cantoni, who works for CARE International, was kidnapped by a group of four armed men on a street in central Kabul on May 16. (Kyodo News) http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=7&id=339908