UrbanSwirl.com - Lifestyles of Color

Gibson:  Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?

Palin:  In what respect, Charlie?

Gibson:  What do you interpret it to be?

Palin:  His worldview.

Gibson:  No, No, the Bush Doctrine.  He enunciated it in September 2002, before the Iraq War.

Palin:  I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is to rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hellbent on destroying our nation.  There have been blunders along the way, though.  There have been mistakes made.  And with new leadership--and that's the beauty of American elections and democracy--with new leadership comes the opportunity to do things better.

Gibson:  The Bush Doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory defense.  We have the right to preemptively strike any other country that we believe is going to attack us.

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.

"We have got to make sure that these weapons of mass destruction, that nuclear weapons are not given to those hands of [Iranian President Mahmoud] 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.

"Is that a yes," asked Gibson. "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."

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.

"And we've got to keep an eye on Russia. For Russia to have exerted such pressure in terms of invading a smaller democratic country, unprovoked, is unacceptable," she told Gibson.