Nuclear Indian Givers

The New York Times brings us this story of another Bushco foreign policy triumph.

It seems that the Indian government has been using what you might call “extralegal” means to obtain information on nuclear technology from us for the last few years.

See what happens when you “turn over the store” to a country that has never ratified the NPT?

As the Times story reports…

The indictment suggests that India (through a private Indian electronics firm called Cirrus, Inc., working as an agent of the government) broke a pledge to the Bush administration more than two years ago not to flout American export laws and secretly seek weapons technology from the United States.

Although Congress has signed off on the nuclear deal, India must still reach a separate agreement on nuclear inspections with several international organizations before the deal is complete.

In a letter to the State Department in September 2004, Shyam Saran, then the Indian foreign secretary, wrote, “The Government of India shall not obtain or use U.S. origin licensable items in contravention of U.S. export control laws and regulations.”

The weapons sales detailed in the indictment occurred between 2003 and 2006 and were shipped to government agencies that were part of the Indian Ministry of Defense and Department of Space.

And it’s not as if they didn’t know what they were doing either…

The indictment charges that Cirrus officials sometimes forged certificates to show the vendors in the United States that the sales had Commerce Department approval.

The response by the Dems?

“This is not only an indictment of individuals for breaking export control law, it is also a blistering indictment of the Bush administration’s judgment,” said Representative Edward J. Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who was one of the leading Congressional opponents of the nuclear deal.

And the dumb rejoinder by Bushco?

Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman, said, “This is a law enforcement matter that began before our efforts to conclude a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement.”

He added, “The arrests of these individuals are not connected to our efforts to conclude an agreement.”

If you were working with another party on an agreement knowing that you were being cheated by that party somehow, exactly how dumb are you for continuing to negotiate with them anyway?

Never mind – I’d better not ask (sigh).