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Vote2008 Sarah Palin Defends Experience, Takes Hard Line Approach on National Security Republican VP Candidate Speaks with ABC News' Charles Gibson in Exclusive Interview By RUSSELL GOLDMAN Sept.
John McCain as his Republican vice presidential nominee, Palin categorized the Russian invasion of Georgia as "unacceptable" and warned of the threats from Islamic terrorists and a nuclear Iran.
The governor advocated for the admittance of Georgia and Ukraine into NATO. When Gibson said if under the NATO treaty, the United States would have to go to war if Russia again invaded Georgia, Palin responded: "Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help. For Russia to have exerted such pressure in terms of invading a smaller democratic country, unprovoked, is unacceptable," she told Gibson. Sarah Palin beginning tonight on "World News" and "Nightline." Charles Gibson will do three interviews with Palin today and tomorrow. More Friday on "Good Morning America " at 7 am ET," "World News" and on "20/20," which will broadcast a one-hour special edition at 10 pm ET/9 pm CT. Palin, who obtained her first passport last year and who has served just two years as Alaska's governor, told Gibson that she was up to the challenge of being Sen.
WATCH: Swing States to Watch Palin's military experience is limited to her gubernatorial role as commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard, an organization with fewer members than there are citizens in the town she was mayor. When Gibson asked her whether that experience was sufficient, Palin said the important experience she brought to the table concerned her work on energy independence. "Let me speak specifically about a credential that I do bring to this table, Charlie, and that's with the energy independence that I've been working on for these years as the governor of this state that produces nearly 20 percent of the US domestic supply of energy, that I worked on as chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, overseeing the oil and gas development in our state to produce more for the United States... but I want you to not lose sight of the fact that energy is a foundation of national security. Palin said that she believed a nuclear Iran presented a threat to "everyone in the world" and that if Israel's existence was threatened by those weapons it had a right to defend itself.
Ahmadinejad, not that he would use them, but that he would allow terrorists to be able to use them," she said. "Well, first, we are friends with Israel and I don't think that we should second-guess the measures that Israel has to take to defend themselves and for their security." When asked whether the United States should be able to invade Pakistan in pursuit of terrorists along the Afghanistan border, Palin demured. "That you think we have the right to go across the border with or without the approval of the Pakistani government, to go after terrorists who are in the Waziristan area?" Palin responded, saying: "I believe that America has to exercise all options in order to stop the terrorists who are hell bent on destroying America and our allies. We have got to have all options out there on the table." Palin defended a previous statement in which she reportedly characterized the war in Iraq as a "task from God." Gibson quoted her as saying: "Our national leaders are sending US soldiers on a task that is from God." But Palin said she was referencing a famous quote by Abraham Lincoln. "I would never presume to know God's will or to speak God's words. But what Abraham Lincoln had said, and that's a repeat in my comments, was let us not pray that God is on our side in a war or any other time, but let us pray that we are on God's side."
son on a task that is from God," Palin said: "I don't know if the task is from God, Charlie. I am so proud of his independent and strong decision he has made, what he decided to do and serving for the right reasons and serving something greater than himself and not choosing a real easy path where he could be more comfortable and certainly safer." Palin agreed in principle to the "Bush doctrine," the idea that the United States has the right to preemptively strike those another country the US think will attack first. "Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend.
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