Democrat pushes for India nuke conditions

The Associated Press
Aug 7, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP): The Bush administration risks the collapse of a U.S.-Indian civil nuclear deal if it fails to push an international nuclear group to accept conditions that would punish India for testing atomic weapons, a Democratic lawmaker says. The accord would reverse three decades of U.S. policy by shipping atomic fuel and technology to India in return for international inspections on India's civilian, but not its military, reactors. But time is running out for a top foreign policy initiative of President Bush, who leaves office in January. Concerns about the deal were raised by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, D-Calif., in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that was made public Wednesday. Berman supports nuclear cooperation with India. Last week, the measure cleared a key hurdle when the International Atomic Energy Agency approved a safeguards agreement that would allow U.N. monitors access to 14 existing or planned Indian nuclear reactors by 2014.