WASHINGTON — A leading Democratic lawmaker has made public a secret Bush administration document that says the U.S. has the right to immediately stop nuclear trade with India if it conducts an atomic test.
The U.S. statement on future Indian testing, contained in a letter kept private for nine months, appears at odds with Indian officials’ insistence that a landmark U.S.-Indian civilian nuclear accord would not ban Indian nuclear tests.
Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is releasing the State Department’s Jan. 16 answers to key congressional questions at a sensitive moment in the nations’ pursuit of a deal that would reverse three decades of U.S. policy by shipping atomic fuel to India in return for inspections of India’s civilian reactors.
Members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group of countries that export nuclear material are gathering in Vienna today and Friday to discuss the deal. The Bush administration must get an exemption for India from the Nuclear Suppliers Group’s rules before Congress could ratify the proposal.
