India nuke deal meets wary Congress

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0324/p01s02-usfp.html

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration's landmark nuclear deal with India could alter the world's nonproliferation regime, and rewrite the geopolitical rules of South Asia.

If it passes Congress in its current form, that is. And that is far from a foregone conclusion.

From President Bush on down, White House officials in recent days have insisted that the India agreement should remain untouched, lest it unravel. But hearings on the controversial pact begin in the Senate next week, and many Senate and House members have indicated they may want to pencil in restrictions on India's behavior, or otherwise modify the deal.

"It's not going to come out the same way it went in," says Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association in Washington.

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