Kansas City, Mo. ? Many veterans attending a national convention disagreed with Sen. Barack Obama about the Iraq war but warmed to the Democratic presidential candidate Tuesday for promising to improve services for them.

But former Sen. Fred Thompson, who is expected to enter the Republican race next month, said those issues aren’t as pressing as keeping Americans secure. He said the U.S. needs to rebuild its military to fight global terrorism because leaders “took a holiday” in the 1990s after the end of the Cold War.

Like Sen. John McCain, another GOP hopeful who spoke Monday, Thompson said U.S.-led forces are making progress in quelling violence and chaos in Iraq and should be given more time. And, like Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the leading Democratic contender who also addressed the convention Monday, Obama said he favors a careful withdrawal.

Obama and Clinton also said they would overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs. Clinton said she would appoint a top White House staffer to handle veterans’ issues, while Obama said his veterans’ agency would have the same stature as the Department of Defense.

“No veteran should have to fill out a 23-page claim to get care or wait months, even years, to get an appointment at the VA,” Obama said, drawing loud applause and a few cheers from hundreds of VFW members. “When a veteran is denied care, we’re all dishonored.”

Chris Taylor, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said portraying the Department of Veterans Affairs under President Bush as poorly run represents “campaign politics.”

“There’s nothing really positive that they can say about him because they’re vying for the far left vote,” Taylor said.

And Thompson told VFW members: “You’ll never be bereft of having a politician in your face with his litany of issues and talking points, with all the things he or she is going to solve. But unless we have security for this nation, unless we can protect our families and ourselves and our government, there are no solutions to any of these other problems.”

Service is important

Still, some VFW members were receptive to remarks about improving services. Walter Siler, of Miami, a former Army field artillery and transportation specialist who served in Vietnam, said he has had trouble obtaining benefits after suffering from diabetes and losing the hearing in his left ear.

“The service-connected issues are the most important issues,” Siler said.

And Lawrence LeFebvre, a former Army chaplain’s assistant from Kansas City, Mo., who also served in Vietnam, said: “You’ve got, certainly, an elder group here that relies on the VA system for health care, and when it’s lacking, they’re all affected.”

Clinton said the nation needs more VA hospitals, and Obama proposed increased staffing for programs and better mental health screening and treatment. Both said they’ll push for new programs to help veterans obtain higher education and housing.

Clinton told the convention Monday, “I will summon the resources and will of this nation to give our veterans the gold-standard health care, earned benefits and support they deserve.”

Obama received louder applause for his comments about services than he did about the war, but not the polite silence that greeted Clinton’s remarks about Iraq. The convention hall seats nearly 6,000 people but both days was about half full.

Bush to speak today

The VFW invited the two top candidates from each party, based on polling. When Republicans Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney were not able to attend, the group turned to McCain and Thompson.

That four candidates took the time to visit the VFW convention is no surprise, since veterans and their families are a large and important constituency. President Bush is scheduled to address the convention today.

The VFW said polling from the 2004 presidential election showed veterans break slightly more Republican than Democrat, 47 percent to 42 percent. It also said roughly 90 percent of veterans vote in presidential elections, a proportion significantly higher than average.