Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Sarah Palin defended her qualifications to be vice president, saying she wouldn't ``blink'' under pressure and that she backs ``all options'' in fighting terrorists, including pursuing them into Pakistan.

``I'm ready,'' Palin said in her first interview on politics since Republican presidential nominee John McCain picked her as his running mate last month.

She acknowledged she has never met a foreign head of state and described her only overseas visit, to see U.S. troops, as the ``trip of a lifetime.'' At one point in the interview with Charles Gibson of ABC News, she appeared to be at a loss to identify the Bush doctrine, the concept of preemptive war that the administration used as a rationale for invading Iraq.

Palin's positions and familiarity with global issues are under scrutiny because she is a first-term Alaska governor and a surprise pick as the vice presidential nominee. Still, her speech at the Republican National Convention energized the party's base and has helped boost the ticket in polls.

Her actions during her two years as governor are also being examined. A state legislative panel is to consider today issuing subpoenas in an investigation into whether she improperly fired the state's top police official.

In interviews aired last night and today, Palin told Gibson she didn't hesitate to accept when McCain asked her to be his running mate.

No Hesitation

``I didn't hesitate, no,'' she said. ``I answered him yes because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can't blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission.''

She said she supports having U.S. troops cross into nations such as Pakistan, with or without their support, to chase terrorists.

``In order to stop Islamic extremists, those terrorists who would seek to destroy America, and our allies, we must do whatever it takes, and we must not blink, Charlie,'' she said. ``In making those tough decisions of where we go, and even who we target.''

She also said she favors NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia even if that raises the risk of a war between the U.S. and Russia.

``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,'' she said.

Sanctions, Not War

``It doesn't have to lead to war and it doesn't have to lead, as I said, to a Cold War, but economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure, again, counting on our allies to help us do that,'' Palin said in the interview in Fairbanks.

She hesitated when asked whether she agreed with the Bush doctrine.

``In what respect, Charlie?'' Palin asked.

``What do you interpret it to be?'' Gibson asked.

``His world view?'' Palin said.

``No, the Bush doctrine, enunciated September 2002, before the Iraq War,'' Gibson said.

``What President Bush has attempted to do is rid this world of Islamic extremism,'' she said. ``There have been blunders along the way,'' but with new leadership comes opportunity, she said.

The Doctrine

Gibson gave a definition of the doctrine and Palin then responded: ``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.''

President George W. Bush ``thought she handled herself well,'' White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters traveling today with the president on Air Force One to Oklahoma City.

Asked about Palin's response to the question on the Bush doctrine, Fratto said ``I don't have anything on that.''

Palin said that, while she has never met a foreign head of state, that was not uncommon among vice presidential candidates in history. ABC News reported that she is the first national candidate in more than 30 years to have never met a foreign head of state.

She has traveled outside the U.S. to Canada, Mexico and to visit troops in Germany and Kuwait. The overseas trip ``changed my life,'' Palin said.

Climate Change

She softened her position on whether climate change is a result of man's activities, saying that people ``can be contributing to the issue.''

``I'm attributing some of man's activities to potentially causing some of the changes in the climate right now,'' she said.

She said she and McCain will have to ``agree to disagree'' over energy exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, something Palin supports and McCain opposes.

``I'm going to keep working on that one with him,'' she said. ``I'm gonna keep pushing that, and I think, eventually, we're all gonna come together.''

Answering other questions, Palin said:

-- ``We cannot second-guess the steps that Israel has to take to defend itself.''

-- ``We have got to put pressure on Iran'' to ensure it doesn't obtain weapons of mass destruction. She said that while Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad might not use them, he might allow them to get into the hands of terrorists.

Gibson is spending parts of two days with Palin in Alaska, in Fairbanks yesterday and today in Wasilla, where Palin lives with her husband, Todd.

Palin is in Alaska after six days of campaigning with McCain. She attended the deployment ceremony for her 19-year-old son, Track, a U.S. Army soldier being sent to Iraq.

Quashing Subpoenas

Meanwhile, lawyers in her state government have threatened to quash any subpoenas the Alaska legislative panel may issue over the firing of the top police official, Walt Monegan. That may delay a report on the incident until after the Nov. 4 presidential election.

Lawmakers are reviewing whether Palin dismissed Monegan after he resisted pressure to fire a state trooper who was involved in a contentious divorce from the governor's sister. Palin has denied wrongdoing.

Monegan said in a telephone interview that Palin and her husband each asked him about the trooper two times, in January and February 2007, soon after Palin took office as governor. Annette Kreitzer, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration, said she is unaware of Palin or anybody from the governor's staff ever pressuring Monegan to fire Palin's ex- brother-in-law. Kreitzer is one of seven state officials who may be subpoenaed today by the legislature.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jim O'Connell in Washington at Joconnell3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 12, 2008 10:45 EDT