US praises India nuclear deal, presses for passage

The Associated Press
Sep 18, 2008

WASHINGTON: With time running out in this year's Congress, the Bush administration urged lawmakers Thursday to approve quickly a U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation accord it portrays as the cornerstone of a new relationship with an emerging Asian power. Lawmakers must act soon if the deal is to be ratified before they are scheduled to leave next week for the year to campaign for November's elections. William Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs, warned the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that a failure to ratify the deal would keep U.S. firms from doing business in India's multibillion dollar nuclear energy sector. He praised India as a "role model in the international community." But the accord, one of Bush's top foreign policy initiatives, faces strong criticism from opponents who say the extra fuel the measure provides could boost India's nuclear bomb stockpile by freeing up its domestic uranium for weapons, which could spark a nuclear arms race in Asia.