Whatever sour emotions I entertained while reading accounts of the funeral of Marla Ruzicka had nothing really to do with the sad death on April 16 of a brave young woman in Baghdad. On many accounts--and I have had a detailed conversation with a close friend of Marla's whose judgment I trust entirely--she was an idealistic person whose prime political flaw seems to have been the very forgivable one of naïveté.

Both in Afghanistan and Iraq, in furtherance of her humanitarian schemes, Marla Ruzicka elected a stance of studious neutrality in ascribing responsibility for the victims of US bombings and ground fire. This pursuit of "credibility" certainly yielded its ironic reward in the political range of those who publicly mourned her.

A US senator--Barbara Boxer--attended Ruzicka's funeral in Lakeport, in northern California. Bob Herbert of the New York Times poured out an emotional column honoring Ruzicka, and Robert Pollock wrote for the Wall Street Journal editorial page, "America has lost a peerless and unique ambassador."

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