The railroad tracks that once went through Veterans Park in downtown disappeared a long time ago. But that did not stop the peace train from rolling into the park on Saturday, as protesters of all ages gathered to decry the looming war with Iraq.

Organized by Veterans for Peace, the rally attracted well over 100 people over the course of its two-and-a-half hour duration.

According to Sissy Goodwin, the head of Wyoming's Veterans for Peace, his organization is not a pacifist group and they do think that fighting is sometimes justified and necessary. However, a conflict with Iraq totally fails to meet these criteria, he said.

"Iraq poses no threat to our country" and there is no justification for us to attack them, Goodwin, a veteran of the Vietnam War, said.

If we were to attack Iraq, it would be a "crime against humanity," he continued.

The only justification Casper College Professor Lloyd Agte sees in attacking Iraq is to get to their oil. This, he said, is what any conflict with Saddam Hussein's nation would be about and it is a poor justification.

Agte noted that if Iraq keeps its oil production steady, it would be able to produce oil for 526 years, much longer than oil-producing nations like Kuwait can.

The English professor also led the rally in a song designed to humorously point out the absurdity of an Iraqi conflict called "Bomb Iraq."

Vietnam veteran Mark Koons of Wheatland agreed that the conflict was all about oil, a cause not worth fighting for.

"I oppose the payment of blood for oil," he said.

He added that instead of fighting a war it is "time for religious Americans to show the excellence of their ways" and not fight.

Chris Molony, a 19-year-old Casper College student, also thought oil was at the core of the conflict and that Bush was misdirecting the anger Americans felt after Sept. 11 in order to railroad people into war.

Molony waved a flag of protest at the rally in which the stars on Old Glory were replaced by 30 corporate symbols, like the McDonald's golden arches and the Playboy Bunny.

Along Second Street other protesters waved flags, held banners that derided Bush and an Iraqi conflict, and held signs that urged passing motorists to honk for peace.

Throughout the windy day at Veterans Park, a steady stream of those honks were heard.