Marla Ruzicka's life is driven by numbers. The numbers of Iraqi civilians dead, the numbers of the wounded. How many of their homes have been destroyed? Injured Iraqis confer with Marla Ruzicka in Baghdad. She and dozens of volunteers fanned out across Iraq to gauge the extent of civilian deaths and injuries as a result of the war.
As founder of CIVIC (Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict), Ruzicka works 15-hour days in the thick of the war zone, going door to door to assess the harm done to innocent Iraqis caught in the line of fire. Ruzicka then uses that information to lobby the U.S. government for assistance.
"I decided not to take a position on the war but to try to do the right humanitarian thing,'' the 26-year-old said during a recent trip to San Francisco, before Saddam Hussein was captured. "No one can heal the wounds that have been inflicted; you just have to recognize that people have been harmed."
According to CIVIC, which enlisted volunteers to fan out across Iraq to survey the impacts of the war, approximately 2,082 Iraqi civilians are dead, 4, 083 are wounded, and 1,657 structures (homes or businesses) had been damaged or destroyed at the time of her visit.
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http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1230-08.htmBrave woman with a lot of heart.
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