WASHINGTON: In the end, he kept his word. US President George Bush substantially stood by the pledges and assurances made in course of the civilian President Bush signs the India-US nuclear deal law at the White House.More Pictures nuclear deal he conceived and promoted with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh three years ago, even at the risk of angering the US lawmakers and non-proliferation hard-liners.
In remarks at a brief but elegant White House ceremony on Wednesday while signing the nuclear deal bill into domestic law, and in a separate statement issued thereafter, Bush reiterated the primacy of the bilateral agreement between the two countries, saying the bill was an important enabling legislation that allowed him "to bring the 123 Agreement into force and to accept on behalf of the United States the obligations contained in the Agreement."
The 123 Agreement provides a wider latitude to India’s nuclear program and cooperation with
Washington than constrictive US laws, including the new legislation. Bush identified for clarification two particular issues that had exercised critics of the deal both in New Delhi and Washington -- the former fearful that India was being short-changed and the latter worried US was giving away the store.He said "the Agreement grants India advance consent to reprocessing which will be brought into effect upon conclusion of arrangements and procedures for a dedicated reprocessing facility under IAEA safeguards."
"In addition, the legislation does not change the fuel assurance commitments that the US Government has made to the Government of India, as recorded in the 123 Agreement," he maintained.
In plain words, it meant he overruled the non-proliferation hardliners in acceding to India's rights for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel -- which critics fear will enable New Delhi to build more weapons. And he stood by the fuel assurance commitments which critics had tried to kill.Both assurances appeared to run contrary to pledges made by the administration to U.S lawmakers who codified the constrictive measures, but Bush maintained in his statement that "the legislation does not change the terms of the 123 Agreement as I submitted it to the Congress" and that the "Agreement is consistent with the Atomic Energy Act and other elements of US law."
Administration officials said the punitive caveats in the legislation only applied in the event of an Indian nuclear test and even for that the 123 Agreement outlined discussion of mitigating circumstances.
It was a sparkling day for US-India ties at the White House East Room, as Bush cranked up the warm fuzzy feeling while signing the bill, including wishing India on for the upcoming Diwali festivities. He strode into the room at 2.25 pm accompanied by vice-president Dick Cheney, and with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, senior lawmakers, and Indian envoy Ronen Sen lined up behind him, delivered a nine-minute address that must have brought relief at the midnight hour in New Delhi and raised the pitch of US-India ties.
There were two other striking observations that Bush made in remarks outside the formal statement issued later. He said by undertaking new cooperation on civil nuclear energy, "India will be able to count on a reliable fuel supply for its civilian reactors," a more oblique reiteration of universal fuel supply assurances contained in the 123 Agreement. In addition, he said "India and the United States will cooperate more closely to keep the world's most dangerous weapons out of the hands of extremists and terrorists," an implicit reference to the concerns of the two countries on Pakistan and Iran respectively.
"This agreement sends a signal to the world: Nations that follow the path of democracy and responsible behavior will find a friend in the United States of America," Bush said pointedly. "The American people are proud of our strong relationship with India. And I am confident that the friendship between our two nations will grow even closer in the years ahead."
Bush’s remarks were punctuated by applause from more than 100 Indian-American movers and shakers, and officials from both sides, who the president praised warmly and for whom it was a day of pride and joy. Some of them mobbed Bush as he left the East Room (with a sphinx-like Cheney in tow), while others took photographs of themselves on the podium after he left to mark the historic occasion.
Ashok Mago, a Texas realtor who lobbied for the deal from the beginning was beside himself with delight. "You may or may not agree with President Bush’s domestic and or foreign policies but one thing we all can agree on that no other US president has done for India what this president has done," he said. "Some presidents looked good others might have made you feel good but this president has done good."
The final administrative aspect of the deal will be taken care of on Friday when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee sign the bilateral instruments of the 123 Agreement which will enable operationalisation of the deal.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Bush_signs_N-deal_keeps_promise/articleshow/3575312.cms
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Chronology of Indo-US Nuclear deal
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