Marla Ruzicka

There was a true tragedy in the Iraq car bomb death of SF human rights worker Marla Ruzicka, who worked for Global Exchange, and who had been trying to count the numbers of Iraqi civilian deaths as the result of the war.

Just last week, she had again demanded in an op-ed piece a full accounting by the US Government. She had come into the possession of documents which directly contradicted Tommy Franks' claim that the US made no such accounting. More at her organization's web site.

Her death appears to be awkward for the media - it's difficult to claim righteous tragedy for the death of an attractive young American woman killed by insurgents without discussing the nature of her house by house, person by person inquiry- How many Iraqi people died? Who did this happen to?, she asked, directly, with a giddy driving cheer, again and again and again.

I fear that because of her politics, like Rachel Corrie, her primary desire seemed to be the search for the ugly truth of political violence, and therefore her name will be swept aside with a dismissive sneer. Even CNN reporting this story mentioned quickly only what she did, not the all important number, information, incomplete, for which she died.

My contempt for the right wing only grows.