A Weekly Battle Over War in Iraq

Motorists whiz by, many of them heading home from work for the weekend. Some honk or give a thumbs-up, although it's often hard to tell which side the gesture is meant for.

In signs and songs that often hearken back to the Vietnam War, the peace activists urge, "Bring the troops home!" and join in on "We Shall Overcome."

On the other side of the street, the entreaty is to "stay the course" and "let our troops finish their mission." Also famous from long ago are some of their taunts: "commie" and "pinko."

Murphy, 51, a full-time activist and former Peace Corps volunteer and public health adviser in Africa and the Caribbean, said she has tried to find common ground and create a dialogue.

Early on, she crossed the street more than once and suggested to her Friday night acquaintances that both sides had deeply held beliefs and were willing to stand up for them. It didn't work.

The war supporters, she said, responded: "We're alike? No way. Code Pink is evil. You're nothing like us."

Taylor, 43, also a full-time activist, scoffed at the notion of any solidarity.

"She has pulled that common-ground shtick on us before, and we reject it," he said.

Taylor calls Murphy and Code Pink -- "Code Pinko" to the Freepers -- traitors, saying members of the group were guests of Saddam Hussein when they went to Baghdad on a peace mission before the war. Murphy rejects that claim, saying she and others paid their own way on the fact-finding mission, which also sought to let Iraqis know that not all Americans supported war.

Murphy and Taylor both say wounded soldiers at Walter Reed have thanked them for what they're doing.

But one recent Friday night, Staff Sgt. Jeff Schaefer, 40, of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., was less than pleased to see the war protesters.

Schaefer, wounded by shrapnel from a mortar attack in Iraq, walked tentatively with the help of a cane outside the hospital gates. A large gash scarred his forehead.