The message from top Bush administration officials Ari Fleischer and Donald Rumsfeld and many letter writers to the Star-Tribune is, "If you can't say something nice about the war, don't say anything about the war at all."

At the commencement of bombing Wednesday night, some Casperites even talked casually about charging protesters with sedition.

Wyoming attorneys, however, disagree. The freedom of speech cannot be trumped by other concerns, they said.

"The Constitution was born in the bowels of war," said Laramie attorney and occasional Star-Tribune columnist Tim Newcomb. "The framers could have made a wartime exception if they had intended, but the founding generation made no such exception. Therefore, they obviously wanted and believed in spirited debate."

Newcomb added he stands for the war and the liberation of Iraq's people but said "it seems to me very un-American to label all those who disagree as seditious."

On the other side, Stan Lowe, chairman of the Wyoming Veteran's Affair Commission, said the founding fathers intended rights to be used responsibly. Citizens have a responsibility to support their government and troops in wartime.

"When the shooting begins, that's the time to coalesce around the leadership of our country and our troops," said Lowe. "The time for debate has been ended then and it's time to win the war."

He also said the government should not legislate against the right to protest, but people should use common sense and see how counterproductive protest is during war.

A brief history of the government's reaction to dissent, gleaned from The Columbia Encyclopedia, may be in order.

The Sedition Act of 1798, enacted during a conflict with France, punished with fines or imprisonment those who acted or spoke against the government. The act expired in 1801.

The government did not enact similar statutes until World War I, when it prosecuted about 2,000 people under the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918.

During World War II, the Smith Act of 1940 was limited to prosecuting those who preached violence against the government. The Supreme Court's 1964 decision in New York Times v. Sullivan effectively removed any legal barriers to criticizing public officials.

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Wyoming Chapter Director Linda Burt said the USA PATRIOT Act, enacted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, gives the government greater powers to intrude and detain people. Still, Burt thinks Wyoming activists will probably not be harassed by officials for opposing the war.

Despite arguments to the contrary, Burt contends citizens can be both safe and free in a time of war.

"It's very attractive when we're afraid, to give up those rights for safety," she said.

As for people advocating support for the administration now that the war has started, she does not see that as dangerous, yet.

"I think I see it more as a call for unity," she said.

War veteran and former Wyoming Public Defender Len Munker of Cheyenne thinks the lack of international support and half-hearted diplomacy of the Bush administration mean the war is unjustified.

Protesters and dissenters "have a duty to speak out," he said.