Bush official outlines platform to Ohio group

The chief of staff said U.S.-led military forces are making progress in Iraq.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- President Bush will continue the U.S. role military in Iraq until the job is done, one of the president's top advisers said.
"He [President Bush] will stay the course," Andrew H. Card Jr., the president's chief of staff, told several hundred at the Ohio Chamber of Commerce annual meeting here Wednesday.
"The world has been asked to participate with us," the 57-year-old Card told the crowd.
The Bush administration has pledged to stick with the planned June 30 transfer of power in the war-torn Middle Eastern country amid a spate of killings, suicide bombings and other attacks that some say have been intended to prevent the formation of an interim Iraqi government, news reports say.
Progress
Card said the U.S.-led military forces are making progress in Iraq since coalition forces toppled the regime of former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein including the stabilization of the banking industry and restoring hospitals, medical care and a free press.
The president declared an end to major hostilities in Iraq last year.
"Power grids and water are coming back, & quot; Card said. "The progress does not get reported on the nightly news or is seldom reported on the front page of the paper, but it is there."
Card's visit to the Buckeye State comes as the Republican Bush seeks re-election this November to a second and final four-year term.
Other issues
Card said the president is seeking to make permanent his proposed income tax cuts and that the president would like to see affordable health-care services for more Americans.
Card said Bush would also like to reform the civil justice system in the U.S. to reduce what Card called "frivolous lawsuits" and that the president would like the U.S. Congress to adopt a unified, national energy plan.
Opponent
A spokesman for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts said Bush is the wrong leader for the country.
"George Bush failed to build a real coalition and failed to plan adequately for the post-war period and has put our troops at great risk," said Mark Kornblau, a spokesman for the Kerry campaign.
Card has been White House chief of staff since the beginning of the presidency of George W. Bush.
Before that, he served as vice president of government relations for General Motors Corp. and had been president and chief executive officer of the American Automobile Manufacturers Association.
Card also has served in the administrations of the first President Bush and President Reagan.