March 8, 2006
Antiwar.com

Bush Blows Hole Through Non-Proliferation Treaty

by Patrick J. Buchanan

In the Cold War, India aligned with Moscow and repeatedly fought a smaller Pakistan that was our friend. In the war on terror, no ally has taken greater risks than Musharraf. While both India and Pakistan refused to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, India was first to break faith with a West that gave it nuclear technology and the first to test nuclear weapons.

Why, then, did Bush agree to transfer U.S. nuclear technology only to India? In so doing, he insulted an ally and blew a hole right through the NPT regime on which we stand to make our demands on Iran and North Korea. . . .

India agreed to let the International Atomic Energy Agency inspect 14 of its 22 nuclear facilities, while eight, military in nature, are off-limits. . . .

Would the United States permit Iran, which signed the NPT and has allowed IAEA inspections of all known nuclear facilities, to agree to a deal like this? No way. We don't trust them - but we trust a democratic India that already has the fruits of its past deceit, a nuclear arsenal. . . .

Israel, which has also refused to sign the NPT and has 200 to 300 nuclear weapons, will demand the same nuclear technology that India got. On what grounds can Bush deny Israel?

And while Bush may grant exemptions from U.S. law and the NPT regime for countries he views as friendly and democratic, China is likely to provide similar aid to its friends, democratic or not, and step into the breach Bush opened with Pakistan.

Iran will use the U.S. concessions to India to show U.S. hypocrisy. . . .

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Enver Masud, "Iran Has an 'Inalienable Right' to Nuclear Energy," The Wisdom Fund, January 16, 2006

Bruce Loudon, "US looks at plan to oust Musharraf," The Australian, March 14, 2007