A week ago today, a very influential woman involved in Iraq’s Governing Council was memorialized and buried. Unfortunately, her assassination went relatively unnoticed in the United States, save for the brief sympathetic statements of our president and other leaders. Akila al-Hashimi’s accomplishments, bravery and loyalty to her country were worthy of praise, but now they lie with her in her grave, in danger of sinking into obscurity with those outside of her home country.

Hashimi, a Shiite Muslim who had a law degree and a doctorate in French literature, was one of only three women in the 25-member cabinet of the Iraqi Governing Council. The cabinet was created by the United States in an attempt to accelerate the return of some powers from the American occupation administration to local authorities.

Hashimi was unique in this respect because her political association was formerly with Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party — she was the only figure from the old regime serving on the Governing Council.

It was no surprise the United States chose her to serve, however: She was well-suited for the work. Hashimi had excellent foreign relations experience — she rose through the ranks in Hussein’s Foreign Ministry and eventually assumed responsibility for Iraq’s dealings with the United Nations and other international organizations.

Many people expected her to become Iraq’s next ambassador to the United Nations.

And while some Iraqis criticized her for her prior involvement with the Baath Party, she was liked and trusted by her new colleagues.

“She was a tolerant, moderate, realistic woman. She was behind the decision to send female diplomats abroad — that was a daring and great step,” said Omar Farooq, telecommunications director at the ministry, in a Los Angeles Times article.

Hashimi was also noted in the same Los Angeles Times article as “a model for young women.” Hashimi shook off traditional gender roles by eschewing the traditional Islamic head covering known as hijab, and was obviously a very strong person to be able to achieve such prominence in a male-dominated political system.

However, Hashimi’s virtues and her decision to work with U.S. occupation forces are what made her a particular target of Hussein loyalists, according to speculation voiced by Iraqis in a Washington Post article.

Ahmed Chalabi, current holder of the Governing Council’s rotating presidency, said in an article from the Agence France-Presse that Hashimi was a “courageous Iraqi patriot” who was not deterred by the repeated threats on her life before her assassination, but chose to remain on the council and continue to carry out her duties.

Her bravery was exceptional for such a time of political unrest. Hashimi dismissed the need for bodyguards and refused to carry weapons in her car — but on the day of the attack, she could have used more protection.

Just after 9 a.m. on Sept. 20, Hashimi was ambushed on a quiet residential street only two blocks from her home in western Baghdad as she was being driven to work. Witnesses said five or six gunmen in a pickup truck opened fire on Hashimi’s Toyota Land Cruiser, which caused the Cruiser to crash into the front gate of a house.

As the pickup advanced on them, Hashimi’s brother (who pulled double duty as her bodyguard) took out an AK-47 assault rifle he had hidden in the car and began shooting at the truck. “There was very intense shooting,” said a witness to the attack in a Washington Post article. “It was like a war.”

A security guard stationed at a nearby high school who had come to help flagged down a passing vehicle and told the driver to take Hashimi to a Baghdad hospital, where she was listed in critical condition and doctors found she had been shot at least once in the abdomen. After five excruciating days in pain, Hashimi died Sept. 25.

The Governing Council declared three days of official mourning after her death and issued a passionate statement, declaring Hashimi died a “martyr on the path of struggle for freedom and democracy in the building of this great nation.”

Even though Akila al-Hashimi has passed on, here’s to hoping her strength will endure in Iraq forever.