We know you'll only use it for "civilian purposes", right?
The US Senate has overwhelmingly voted to pass a controversial deal to share civilian nuclear technology with India.
Under the deal, which was proposed more than a year ago, India must allow international inspections of its nuclear facilities.
US President George W Bush hailed the move as bringing India into the "nuclear non-proliferation mainstream".
The BBC's Shahzeb Jillani in Washington says critics believe America should not be rewarding India for having secretly developing a nuclear weapons programme and refusing to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
OK so what are teh GOALS of this legislation....
The deal is a "lasting incentive" for India not to test nuclear weapons and "to co-operate closely with the United States in stopping proliferation", Senator Richard Lugar said as the Senate debate began.
As India's economy continues to grow, this partnership will help India meet its energy needs without increasing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions," Mr Bush said.
So why might we be NERVOUS about it?
There is also some concern about the transfer of missile technology to Iran by at least two Indian firms, recently black-listed by the US government.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh strongly defended the deal in the parliament in August.
He said India would not accept any move by Washington that would impede its atomic weapons programme, nor would it allow any international scrutiny of its military facilities.
I'm curious about what sorts of debates were held before the passage of this bill. Because certainly even SADDAM was more cooperative with inspections than India says they will be. And look what we did to HIM because of the percieved "threat".
I am somewhat against India having access to Nuclear power, as they might be able to develope weapons with it, and even assuming they DONT, this harms our nonproliferation policies. It also encourages their rival, Pakistan to seek Nuclear power.... Which certainly wouldnt be safe seeing as how Pakistan is fighting to keep their government Taliban free, and terrorists like Bin Laden are STILL hiding there... THis makes it a PRIME target...
We shouldn't be rewarding countries who seek to circumvent nuclear nonproliferation policies, as India has done. We're allowing this bill because they've already made thier moves towards it, without our approval, adn we don't want to look weak.
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