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| '''Marla Ruzicka''' (] ] – ], ]), of ], was an ] ] ] and ] who was killed by a ] blast in ]. She founded the ] (CIVIC), an organization that assists ]i victims of the ]. | |||
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| ===Afganistan and Iraq=== | |||
| Prior to launching the project in Iraq, she was based in ], ]. Ruzicka worked with the ]-based human rights organization, ], to pressure the US government to set up a fund for Afghan families harmed in ]. She arrived in Kabul only a few days after the ] were removed from power. In Afghanistan, she conducted a survey on the military campaign effects on Afghan civilians to apply for compensation and aid. | |||
| In July 2002, Ruzicka began working with ] and the ] to allocate money to rebuild the homes of families that had suffered losses as a result of military action. After receiving CIVIC's first report, ] - the ] Senator for ] - sponsored legislation to provide $10 million in U.S. aid to innocent Iraqis who had been harmed by the ]. | |||
| Following the fall of Baghdad to the US-led coalition in April 2003, her CIVIC activities focused on the organization of door-to-door surveys to obtain first-hand accounts of civilian casualties that had been killed, injured, abused, displaced, or made homeless as a result of military action. She was in Iraq prior to the war with the ] organization. | |||
| "Marla Ruzicka is out there saying, 'Wait, everybody. Here is what is really happening. You'd better know about this.' We have whistle blowers in industry. Maybe sometimes we need whistle blowers in foreign policy." - ]. | |||
| In the days and weeks after her death in Baghdad, the story of Marla's life and work received widespread international coverage. The journalistic coverage of her extraordinary journey from California to Baghdad (via Afghanistan) ranged from articles that broadly praised her tenacity, courage and compassion through to more conservative minded comment (mainly emanating from the United States) that denounced her role in a leftist campaign to undermine the reputation and legitimacy of ongoing US military operations in Iraq. It seems likely that Marla Ruzicka and her significant campaigning legacy will remain a potentially divisive topic of conversation in American political circles for a number of years to come. | |||
| ==Earlier work== | |||
| ==Depiction in film media== | |||
| Film rights to the story of Ruzicka's life were bought by ] in 2004. In the deal the studio also bought the rights to a book by ], who planned to write it with the aid worker before Ruzicka died in April. ] agreed to play Ruzicka in the movie scripted by Lorene Scafaria, whose recent credits include "The Mighty Flinn" for Warner Independent Pictures. Filming is expected to begin sometime in late 2006. | |||
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