Thirty Four Independent Experts and Organizations Send Letter to Congress Opposing U.S.-India Nuclear Deal

Saturday, September 20, 2008
Posted in Nuclear | Tagged Nuclear

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Washington, D.C. - Thirty four independent experts and organizations sent a letter to members of Congress today asking them to resist pressure to rush toward approving the U.S.-India nuclear agreement in its current form. The full five page letter is available online.

High-profile signatories to the letter include nuclear weapons experts such as Ambassador James Goodby, Ambassador George Bunn, Professor Sidney Drell, Professor Frank von Hippel, former government official Richard Garwin, former government official Morton Halperin, former government official Jack Mendelsohn, and Ambassador Norman Wulf.

“Congress needs to actively support measures that would help address the numerous flaws and ambiguities in the nuclear deal,” said Leonor Tomero, an expert on the U.S.-India agreement at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

The Bush administration submitted the agreement to Congress on September 10. If approved, the agreement would allow nuclear trade with India, reversing decades of non-proliferation policy. The Bush administration is pushing for a congressional vote by the end of September.

From: Council for a Livable World

Two weeks ago, a global conglomerate of 45 nations that set the nuclear trade rules approved the U.S.-India nuclear deal by accepting New Delhi’s assertion that its nuclear cooperation with the United States was aimed solely at expanding energy production.

“This deal significantly weakens U.S. and international security by granting an exception to the rules of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and American laws, thereby undermining the entire non-proliferation regime and inviting violations by other nations,” according to Retired Army Lt. Gen. Robert G. Gard Jr., chairman of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Gard has also stated that the agreement “risks fueling a regional arms race with Pakistan, complicating negotiations over Iran, and unraveling the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”

Though India strongly denies that it intends to use the deal with the United States to expand its nuclear weapons program, its officials have also argued that the deal does not preclude the country from carrying out further nuclear tests. Critics have described the U.S. acceptance of India’s nuclear weapons program as amounting to ”a major concession” for a country that has refused to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).