Bush: India Is Responsible Nuclear Nation

[Crazy Guggenheim]

Not that India isn't, but this smells of $$$$ .......

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-bush-india,0,4479778.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

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WASHINGTON -- President Bush is expressing hope that he'll have a civilian nuclear agreement with India in hand to take to Congress when he returns from his visit next week to South Asia.

In a pre-trip interview with Indian journalists, Bush talked about the difficulty in completing the pact announced last summer during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns is in New Delhi this week trying to close the deal.

Under the agreement, the U.S. would offer nuclear technology and fuel to help India build reactors to meet its growing energy needs. In exchange, India would separate its civilian and military nuclear programs, and allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency access to programs not linked to defense work.

"I appreciate the prime minister's courage last July of laying out a way forward, which I support," Bush said in the interview Wednesday with reporters from The Dainak Bhaskar and The Times of India. The White House released a transcript of the interview Thursday.

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[Crazy Guggenheim]

1. more .......

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1162363,00.html

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Even if U.S. and Indian negotiators get to a deal, selling it to the U.S. Congress and to India’s parliament won’t be simple. Many in the U.S. fear that the agreement undermines the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which India has not signed. And in India, where the nuclear program is a deep source of national pride and the ultimate defense against nuclear neighbor Pakistan, there is considerable unease about international inspectors scrutinizing India’s prized program.
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