It was three years ago that Marla was killed in Iraq. I know she was going somewhere in Baghdad, and she and her driver/translater were both killed..... I believe by a roadside bomb. I have heard other reports - that it was a suicide bomber and also that she was ambushed - but I think the correct story is a roadside bomb.
In any case, it was very sad. I had been following her work with CIVIC for two years at that point. She was a young women full of life and love for a lot of people. I remember reading about an Iraqi boy in Tal Afar who had gotten to know Marla because she was trying to get him some help. When he got the news, he said something along the lines of: "Her parents lost her, I lost her, and the whole world lost her!" He was quite upset. Anyway, someone put together a memorial video to Marla Ruzicka. I did not cry when she died - death happened every day in reports from Iraq - but some weeks later, I was looking in my little notebook for words that are hard to spell, and I ran across "Marla Ruzicka". For some reason, that made me cry.
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