The US's nuclear cave-in-- Indian nuke deal

:sarcasm::sarcasm: Are you feeling safer??? :sarcasm::sarcasm:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HC04Df03.html

Asia Times
Mar 4, 2006

The US's nuclear cave-in
By Joseph Cirincione

Buffeted by political turmoil at home, US President George W Bush sought a foreign-affairs victory in India. To clinch a nuclear-weapons deal, Bush had to give in to demands from the Indian nuclear lobby to exempt large portions of the country's nuclear infrastructure from international inspection.

<snip>

Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress are deeply concerned about the deal and the way it was crafted. Keeping with the Bush administration's penchant for secrecy, the deal was cooked by a handful of senior officials (one of whom is now a lobbyist for the Indian government) and never reviewed by the departments of State, Defense or Energy before it was announced with a champagne toast by Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Congress was never consulted. Republican committee staff say the first members heard about it was when the fax announcing the deal came into their offices. Worse, for the president, this appears to be another give away to a foreign government at the expense of US national-security interests.

Bad example

In addition to breaking US law and shattering long-standing barriers to proliferation, lawmakers are concerned about the example the nuclear-weapons deal sets for other nations. The lesson Iran is likely to draw is simple: if you hold out long enough, the Americans will cave. All this talk about violating treaties, they will reason, is just smoke. When the Americans think you are important enough, they will break the rules to accommodate you.

Pakistani officials have already said they expect their country to receive a similar deal, and Israel is surely waiting in the wings. Other nations may decide that they can break the rules, too, to grant special deals to their friends. China is already rumored to be seeking a deal to provide open nuclear assistance to Pakistan - a practice it stopped in the early 1990s after a successful diplomatic campaign by the United States to bring China into conformity with the NPT restrictions. Will Russia decide that it can make an exception for Iran?

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Dr. Joseph Cirincione (jcirincione@carnegieendowment.org) is the director for non-proliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC.

the motivating factor behind this is money -- very likely billions and billions in the pockets of BushCo corporate cronies . . . seems that's the case with everything Bush does . . .

he drove a hard bargain... he wouldn't turn over nukes until they gave us mangos

(If this article isn't enough to convince folks, you should here the TOTN segment with Joseph Cirincione, he makes a very convincing and passionate argument.)

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5247773>

Examining the U.S.-India Nuclear Deal

Listen to this story...(at link above)

Talk of the Nation, March 6, 2006 ·
A new agreement gives India access to U.S. nuclear power
technology and opens up India's civilian power plants to
international inspectors. But first, the deal must pass Congress.
Our guests discuss questions about India's nuclear weapons arsenal and the future of non-proliferation.

Guests:

Joseph Cirincione, senior associate and director for Non-Proliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

AmbassadorRaminder Singh Jassal, charge d'affaires of the Indian Embassy

Rep. Joseph Crowley, Democrat from New York (favors the deal)

Rep. Ed Markey, Democrat from Massachusetts; ranking Democrat on the House Energy Committee (Strongly against the deal)

:kick: