Palin defends Alaska-Russia foreign policy remark

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-26 13:50

Earlier Thursday, Palin held a rare exchange with reporters outside a ground zero firehouse in New York, and declined to endorse the candidacy of indicted Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. On trial for seven counts of making false statements stemming from allegations that he concealed gifts on Senate financial documents, Stevens is running for re-election to retain the seat he has held since 1968.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, center, poses for a group photo with fire fighters from Engine Company 10, Ladder Company 10, at their firehouse next to the World Trade Center site, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008, in New York. [Agencies]

When a reporter asked Palin if she supports the re-election of Stevens, she replied: "Ted Stevens' trial started a couple of days ago. We'll see where that goes."

Outside the firehouse just across from the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Palin took just a handful of questions from reporters. She has yet to have a news conference in the four weeks since Republican presidential candidate John McCain chose her to be his running mate and has submitted to only three major interviews, with ABC, Fox News and CBS.

Palin was asked if she thought the US presence in Iraq and Afghanistan was helping to mitigate terrorism.

"I think our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan will lead to further security for our nation. We can never again let them onto our soil," she said.

Wrapping up a trip to New York, the Alaska governor toured a visitors center dedicated to those who lost their lives in the 2001 attacks. She later walked past a bronze memorial built into the wall of a firehouse, which commemorates the 343 firefighters who died on Sept. 11. She touched the wall several times.

"To come here and see these good New Yorkers who are not only rebuilding this area but rebuilding America, it's very inspiring," she told reporters.

Palin asked several questions during the tour about progress rebuilding the trade center site, victims' families and particularly the health problems suffered by ground zero workers, said Jennifer Adams, CEO of the tribute center. Health advocates believe thousands of people became ill from exposure to toxic dust from the ruins of the trade center site.

Palin's parents went to New York in January 2002 to help control the rat population in Staten Island's Fresh Kills landfill as part-time contract workers with the Agriculture Department, her mother, Sally Heath, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Their task for two weeks was to control the rats so that they did not disturb the debris from the World Trade Center that was being brought there and searched by forensic teams for human remains.

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