India, US nuclear deal ‘ill-conceived’: NYT
Foreign Desk Report

NEW YORK—A leading American newspaper has strongly criticized the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, and urged the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NGG) to set conditions requiring all member states to halt nuclear trade and transfer of atomic technology with India if New Delhi tests a weapon.
“If the suppliers group fails to set these conditions, it will be far too easy for New Delhi to do an end-run around Washington and buy technology and fuel from states that are even more eager to make a buck,” The New York Times said in an editorial.
The newspaper welcomed a new non-binding bipartisan resolution moved in the House seeking severe curbs on the nuclear deal, saying the concerns expressed should bolster the skeptics in the suppliers group who “rightly” fear that the agreement could benefit New Delhi’s weapons programme as much as its pursuit of nuclear power.
It would also make it even harder to rein in ambitions of nuclear wannabes, including Iran , The Times said said. President Bush, the Times said, is right when he says that the United States needs to develop strong ties with democratic India . “But he erred in making a nuclear deal the centerpiece of that relationship. And he erred by being so eager for a deal that sufficient thought wasn’t given to its implications. Now it’s up to Congress and other countries to try to limit the damage.” The Bush administration and American business, the Times writes, have been hoping for swift, rubber-stamped approval of their “ill conceived” nuclear trade deal with India . “Luckily, some members of the Congress, and some American allies, are finally asking questions, says the editorial, entitled “Questions About the Indian Deal, finally.”
It criticizes the US Congress for being “far too uncritical” when it gave preliminary approval to the agreement in December. “As a next step, Washington must get a change in rules from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the main providers of so-called civilian nuclear technology around the world,” it says.
In an effort keep critics in both capitals off-balance, The Times writes, American and Indian officials have offered conflicting interpretations about whether — “as the US law demands, but the agreement fudges” — the United States would cut off trade and fuel deliveries if the Indians test another nuclear weapon. The resolution also asks the administration to ensure that any change in the suppliers’ group rules be consistent with United States law.
Non-proliferation specialists in Washington have claimed that the Indo-US civilian-nuclear deal will lead to New Delhi expanding its weapons production with implications on Pakistan and China. According to a report, critics of the deal have written to Congress warning that the sale of American and foreign nuclear fuel to India will allow for the rapid expansion of India’s nuclear arsenal. They also said that if India buys American and foreign fuel and expands its arsenal base that will lead to Pakistan wanting to expand its arsenal and for China to keep pushing on the modernisation front. The non-proliferation lobby, which is to hold a seminar on the India-US civilian nuclear arrangement, has been consistently making the point that the benefits touted by the Bush Administration are ‘overstated’. Further, an argument has been made that if the nuclear arrangement with India enables the latter to rapidly expand its weapons production that will violate American obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The general impression here is that even if the civilian nuclear deal has not run into the kind of turbulence to wreck the prospects it will not be ready in time for President George W Bush’s visit to India early in March.
Officials are stressing that the civilian nuclear deal is only one part of the US-India cooperation and the success of a Presidential visit ought not to be pegged on this one aspect. Rather Bush’s visit ought to be seen in framework of rapidly expanding economic, military and political ties. Ahead of his trip to South Asia, Bush is expected to focus on India at a speech to the Asia Society next Wednesday.