Palin getting pre-campaign tips on foreign policy from national security experts

Washington, Sep 6 : Senator Joseph I. Lieberman is among several national security experts helping brief Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on foreign policy issues as she prepares to hit the campaign trail.

Palin will be going for a debate with her Democratic opponent Joseph R. Biden Jr. in less than a month, the Washington Post quoted officials from Sen. John McCain's campaign, as saying.

Lieberman, who was the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee but is now an independent, has helped introduce Palin to officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the leading pro-Israel lobby.

In a meeting Tuesday, the day before she delivered her prime-time address at the Republican National Convention here, Palin assured the group of her strong support for Israel, of her desire to see the United States move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and of her opposition to Iran's aspirations to become a nuclear power.

Campaign officials and McCain foreign policy advisers called Palin a quick study who has sound judgment that will serve her in good stead on national security issues.

But privately, some in the GOP foreign policy establishment voiced concern that McCain has turned to a relative neophyte on national security matters at a time when the United States is facing challenges ranging from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the nuclear activities of Iran and North Korea.

Campaign advisers and other surrogates sought to tamp down concerns about her experience.

"Sarah Palin will be part of a team. John McCain is clearly the person with the foreign policy experience and record of accomplishment in Washington that will be paired with her experience as a reformer, as a governor, as an executive," former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney said.

The McCain campaign has tapped Stephen E. Biegun, the national security adviser to then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), to be Palin's principal foreign policy adviser.

Campaign aides said Biegun, who is currently a vice president of Ford, is not serving as Palin's tutor but is merely briefing her on details of key issues in a way that is similar to what other candidates are receiving.

ANI