Nuclear rules are not made to be broken
Last week, the Bush administration bullied 45 countries into lifting a 30-year ban on nuclear trade with India — a ban put into place because of India’s history of illicit nuclear weapons development. Now that an exception has been made for India, the message to the whole world is, "Nuclear rules are made to be broken."
Bush’s next step is to apply the same pressure tactics to get Congress to pass a deal that could increase India’s nuclear arsenal.
President Bush wants his legacy. The Bush team is pushing hard for Congress to approve this US-India nuclear deal before the end of his term — all the while undermining international efforts to convince Iran to forgo nuclear development. Congress could vote this month on this dangerous deal with India that would undermine years of work by the global community to stop nuclear proliferation.
This is a critical time for the US to take leadership in the international community for reducing nuclear arsenals — including our own. Nuclear weapons are a threat to our national security, and to global security. This dangerous deal with India would do the exact opposite: violating international agreements in order to increase India’s capacity to produce new nuclear weapons.
There are much better ways to build strong relations with India that do not involve damaging global security and rewarding poor nuclear behavior.