The war of words. Supporters and opponents of the war in Iraq gathered Wednesday at the state Capitol, each drawn to the debate on the Senate's war statement and each with a different take on what the United States should do next.

Opponents of the resolution

• Dale Parrish, 45, has a 19-year-old son, Victor, who is in the Marines and will serve his second tour in Iraq this year. Parrish opposes the Democratic resolution, which he sees as a betrayal.

Their actions are demoralizing the troops overseas. These young men and women don't deserve to have our people here not stand behind them. This will not be a short conflict. All we hear about is the bombs going off every day. We don't hear about the water treatment plants and the electric transmission lines. Is the American public going to see the job through or cut and run and see chaos in its wake? Can you imagine what would happen with the Sunnis and Shiites? It might be like Cambodia.

• Ron Hall is a 65-year-old veteran. His son, Ron Hall Jr., 38, serves in the Air Force and has been to Iraq three times.

The Iraqi people need to take charge of their own lives, and they are doing that. The reporters in Iraq are based in Baghdad and don't see the good things happening. It's up to the Iraqi people to take charge of their destiny. The people that bring up these bills don't understand history. As a military man, I've never trusted the Democrats.

• Sara Ludin, 20, is a Muslim who grew up in Aurora. Her father is from Afghanistan and her mother is an American who converted to Islam. She fears that if America pulls out of Iraq a bloodbath might ensue.

I think the war was ill-conceived. It was framed as a terrorism issue and wasn't really about that. But we're there now and caused a lot of damage. It feels like the troop surge is the only thing left to do, Maybe we should give it a chance.

Supporters of the resolution

• James Narvaiz, 45, has a 19-year-old son, Dominic Mares, in the Marine Corps. He'll be shipped out to Iraq this month. Narvaiz wore one of his son's military jackets to a protest against the war.

Why should we be over there? America has already done its part. We have no business over there anymore. By God's good grace my son will finish out his term. I miss him already. I'll go to his room and lay down and play his video games. God helps me keep my sanity and keeps me from going crazy.

• Jim Hudson, 58, is a Vietnam veteran from Aurora.

I oppose the war and would like to see a responsible withdrawal of the troops. We've been through this before in Vietnam. They had a civil war we were in the middle of.

There were many Americans then who said we should stay the course. There are always people who say the war should go on whatever the cost. I think Americans underestimate the number of people we've harmed there. There are hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have died, including children who died from lack of medicine and lack of food. It's much worse than we realize.

• Max Tyler, 59, of Lakewood, was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War.

I knew everything they said about weapons of mass destruction was wrong. Why didn't Bush and Cheney know that? In the fall of 2002 there were so many lies being put out. We went to war for lies; they knew it was false. In the last four weeks I've done everything I can to end this war. I think (President Bush) is about to attack Iran. I think Bush wants to launch an aerial bombardment. That would be far worse than what's going on now in Iraq.