Over 2,500 Republican delegates gathering in New York adopted a party platform on the first day of a four-day national convention on Monday, touting President George W. Bush's achievements over the past four years.

Nearly 40 pages of the 98-page platform were devoted to Bush's foreign policy, particularly on the war on terrorism, which was considered as the president's major advantage in his reelection campaign.

The unbinding document, which mainly reflects the president's views and positions on a wide range of issues, said in the introduction and preamble part that as a result of the two wars launched by the Bush administration in Afghanistan and Iraq, "there are more than 50 million newly freed people" in the two nations, and that the United States "is safer."

On the domestic front, the platform said when Bush came to office, he inherited an "faltering economy," and that the president worked with the Congress to lower taxes, "thereby growing our economy and putting people back to work."

The Republicans also laid out an agenda for the nation's futurein the platform, and said that if reelected, Bush would lead the country with "courage, hope, and resolve over the next four years."

The platform's title, "A Safer World, a More Hopeful America," reflects the theme of the convention and Bush's reelection campaign.

Democrats called the Republican platform an "extremist, special interest document" that they said were at odds with the views of moderate Republicans.

"This is the same special interest platform that their prime-time speakers don't agree with and you won't see highlighted during their convention as George Bush and Dick Cheney try to masquerade as moderates," Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic National Committee chairman, said in a statement.

Democrats adopted their platform at the Democratic National Convention held in Boston in late July.

Source: Xinhua