About 30 protesters chanted while holding colorful signs adorned with peace symbols and flowers during a peace rally in front of the Allen Street Gates yesterday.

"One, two, three, four. We don't want your oil war," demonstrators of all ages chanted.

The State College Peace Center sponsored the rally in response to the possible U.S. war efforts against Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries. The protesters said war creates more problems than it solves.

"Our main purpose is to show why we shouldn't go to war against Iraq," center member Peter Shaw said.

Additionally, they expressed worry about the innocent lives that are lost during war, including those of America's service men and women.

"The Bush administration is trying desperately to affiliate [war efforts against Iraq] with the al-Qaida," Shaw said. "The U.S. wants to get in there and they are going to use any false pretext that they can."

The group hoped to gain awareness for its cause and to help inform the public about what it considers the impending war against Iraq.

"This is going to be a war about oil," Shaw said. "And it's no wonder seeing as how Bush is in the oil business and so is [Vice President] Cheney."

Citing a lack of reasoning behind the war, Shaw offered other solutions to the nation's problems with Iraq.

"I think that we should lift the economic sanctions against them," he said. "Because Saddam said he would let inspectors in [if the sanctions were lifted] ... If he's lying then we'll deal with it."

However, some people said America has already given enough leniency to Iraq.

"We just can't sit around and ignore what they are doing," Caleb Nagle, a State College resident, said.

Shaw, a marine veteran who wore a black shirt with the words "Veterans for Peace," spent his childhood in the shadow of World War II.

"During the time that I grew up, war was glorified," he said. "I mean, in my lifetime we have dropped the H-bomb in Hiroshima. We went after villages of women and children in Vietnam. But somehow we were never the bad guys."

Army Sgt. Fatima Mitchell disagreed. She said military force is necessary for protecting the freedoms that Americans enjoy.

"We fight for freedom. It's because of soldiers and the military that [the protesters] can stand out there on the corner do what they are doing," Mitchell said. "In Cuba, for instance, people can't make statements like they are making right now."

Mitchell added that protests like the one that took place yesterday are possible because of the military.

"If we didn't [use military force] then we'd be like all the other Third World countries," Mitchell said. "It would be chaos."

Some students, such as Amy Remmel (senior-psychology), believe there is a "middle ground" between going to war and supporting peace.

"I don't think that killing is ever the answer," Remmel said. "There should be some middle ground. This would help to stop the loss of innocent lives on both sides."

Other students said they would support a war.

"I think that war against Iraq is the only answer," Claudia Lum (junior-life sciences) said.