The first official meeting of the 29 delegates and four alternates from the Beehive State began the day with a double-barreled attack on the war in Iraq. Vietnam veteran Foster Wright and MSNBC political commentator Bill Press harshly criticized the conflict as one that did not merit the price paid in blood and treasure.

Wright was the more measured - and poignant - of the two speakers rallying the Utah caucus.

A 30-year U.S. Navy veteran who was a fellow swift boat commander with John Kerry during the Vietnam War, Foster said combat tests a person in ways like nothing else.

"You can't go home again from that experience. You essentially can't be the same person," Wright said in a voice cracking with emotion.

He called Kerry's war service a "powerful reason" to send him to the White House, and an omission in President Bush's Texas National Guard resume that makes a big difference.

"We are perched on a time where it is very, very critical that we have somebody in office who understands what it means to send troops to war. It is not toy soldiers. People actually die, and it is probably the most important thing that a commander in chief does."

The appearances before the Utah delegation were part of a high-profile show of veterans Monday. At a boisterous meeting of delegates who served in the military, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark said Kerry had volunteered for duty in Vietnam and led dangerous missions in river warfare.

By opening their national convention with a focus on Kerry's military service, the Democrats sought to counter a Republican-led charge that he is too liberal and weak on issues of national security. They also sought to contrast Kerry's decorated service with that of Bush, who served in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War but did not see combat.

Wright told the Utah delegation Iraq was a "huge mistake" and said he believes the Bush administration is "playing with war and that's a very scary idea - very scary. And it's your sons and daughters who they are playing with."

Utah Democrats left no doubt where they stood on the war and Kerry's veteran status by giving Wright a standing ovation.

"Anybody that's seen [war] doesn't like it," said David Holbrook, a 62-year-old Vietnam veteran attending the convention with his wife, delegate Barbara Taylor.

"When I came home I was mad as hell, but I didn't do anything about it," he said of Kerry's post-war protests of Vietnam. "Now, I wished I had."

Holbrook, a Salt Lake City realtor, said the Iraq War is the campaign's key issue for him.

A new Boston Globe poll published Monday showed the Utahns in Boston are in line with the overwhelming majority of their 4,300-plus colleagues. The survey said 95 percent of delegates oppose the decision to go to war.

That position puts the Democratic activists in stark contrast to the majority of Utahns, where Republicans rule.

A Salt Lake Tribune poll taken in May showed 71 percent of registered voters said they supported the war and a convincing 64 percent backed the president's management of the conflict.

Still, Democratic leaders insist a growing number of Utahns have turned against the war, and the Bush administration. The war, says Utah Democratic Chairman Donald Dunn, is "a big part of this."

Political strategists masterminding the convention are reportedly being cautious, however, not to be seen as criticizing U.S. troops or veterans in slamming the decision to go to war.

Veterans, including former Kerry swift boat crew members, are featured speakers on three of the four nights at the convention's main hall. Kerry's nomination acceptance speech Thursday will be preceded by three former military men: Clark, a former presidential candidate; former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, who was severely injured in Vietnam, and Jim Rassman, an ex-Green Beret who credits Kerry for his rescue in Vietnam.

Talking points handed out to delegates said the convention will have a "record level of involvement from veterans working hard to elect a brother-in-arms."

An estimated 500-plus veterans are attending the convention.

In the Utah delegation meeting, Press, a former California Democratic state party chairman, had no hesitation in calling the Iraq War the No. 1 reason to dump Bush.

"He's misled us into war, at best, if not lied us into war," said Press. "By going to Iraq we've given the al-Qaida two years to regroup, to recruit new members and to plan new attacks against the United States."

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.