So what now, America? Now that the spotlight is momentarily off Cindy Sheehan, now that Karl Rove is temporarily off the media hook, and now that the Downing Street Memo lies uninterpreted for a while. What now? What of the dissension in our nation... mother against mother, neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend?

Today I sit before my television, not as a progressive, not as an anti-war activist, not as a woman perennially hoarse from shouting "End the War" and "Bring Them Home." Today I sit before my television as an American, itching to get on a plane to pull people from their rooftops and find them a soft place to rest. I've made several calls to a longtime Los Angeles friend who hales from the imperiled Big Easy. I've offered my Los Angeles home to her very large family should they seek domicile in this, the other LA. I don't care if they're Republican. I don't worry if they support Mr. Bush. I just know that they could use the help. I know they are victims of a much greater power which they have never once harmed. And that is all that matters.

Only yesterday I was concerned about the neighbors who oppose me. Only yesterday I debated a conservative Christian friend. Only yesterday I feared violence toward my CodePink sisters who were instrumental in building Camp Casey. I had good reason to worry. Days earlier I'd met the rolling PR caravan devised by Republican publicists, Russo Marsh and Rogers. I'd witnessed its hostility first hand at a staged PR event in beautiful downtown Burbank. There I watched as Deborah Johns, Republican sponsored Marine mom, expressed a desire to disrupt the peaceful vision of Camp Casey and deny Cindy Sheehan her right to question Bush.

My left ear still rings from that American on American encounter, where a fifty-something man whistled loudly in my ear in an attempt to rupture my eardrum. Not once, not twice, but as often as he could. Isn't this what an enemy does... sneak up on the opponent with the purpose to do harm? This he did. He, my fellow American.

I also thought of the tough, butch Karen Hughes type, who pushed against me time and again to drop me to my knees. She was the larger power and I the much smaller. Her goal was to injure me. Thankfully she failed. She, my fellow American.

And so I worried about Crawford knowing these aggressors were on their way, though my concerns were truly not new. I've worried for three years about the growing American divide. I should be used to it by now. I witnessed it during Vietnam. Those times were difficult and the divisions were raw, but I feared violence less then, than now. Ode to my pre-McVey, pre-Eric Rudolf, pre-Pat Robertson youth. Today's pro-war folk are different from then. They have a god who suggests that they kill. Their penchant for violence abounds.

In America's on-going discourse on Iraq, concerns for civil war rattle on. What will the Sunnis do? Does the new Constitution honor their rights? Does Federalism provide sufficient sovereignty for the Kurds? Will the nation implode if America departs? All are legitimate questions. The stability of Iraq is a real concern to pro-war and anti-war Americans alike, though their reasons for concern differ widely. The Right fears for control of the region. The Left fears for the health of the people.

But what about America? Although most Americans currently poll against the war, the ideological battle rages on. Who really supports the troops? Should we leave or stay? Should we bring 'them' home? Did we fight to have 'Sharia'? Will women wear bhurkas? Is it their oil or ours? Will Iraq join Iran? Will the insurgents prevail? Who is our enemy? Was the pre-war intelligence fixed? How many Iraqis have died? Depleted uranium? WMD? PTSD? Have too many Americans died? A date to withdraw? Stay the course? How much money dare we spend? Halliburton and Bechtel? Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo? Cut and run? Our job is done? Spread democracy? Inflict democracy? Trust Islam? Onward Christian soldier? Imperialism? Nation building? The missing eight billion? Why they hate us? Under-equipped forces? Fight them there or fight them here? Less forces or more? Will there be a civil war?

The battle rages on. More fierce every day. But this battle is not in Iraq. This battle is in America. And while George W. Bush looks beyond America's borders and considers his legacy there, what he sadly overlooks is the growing detestation here. The longer he stays the course, the greater the dissension within his own nation. The longer Baghdad explodes, the more likely our nation implodes.

Then suddenly a tragedy at home. An assault on Louisiana and Mississippi. Before Katrina they were red states. Post Katrina they are just states. WE rush to save our American family. WE NEED to save our American family. Republican, Democrat, hawk, dove... it just doesn't matter. America needs help and Americans will help. We're a unified nation again!

If only this damn war would end!!

Linda Milazzo (pimbalina@mac.com) is a Los Angeles based writer/educator/activist and member of Code Pink: Women for Peace.

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