India Nuclear Deal May Face Hard Sell

Rice went to Saran's suite in the Willard Hotel on Sunday, July 17, to provide a final push. At 6 p.m., she and Burns thought they had an agreement, but then Saran called Burns at 10:30 p.m., saying the deal was off -- it was too much politically for the Indian government to swallow all at once.

On Monday, July 18, the morning that Singh was to meet with Bush, Rice called Burns at 5:30 a.m. and said, "We're not going to give up." She met with Singh at 8 a.m. and persuaded him to let the negotiators try again.

Thus, as Bush and Singh met one-on-one in the Oval Office, senior U.S. and Indian aides closeted in the Roosevelt Room were furiously scribbling out the text of a deal that would overturn three decades of U.S. policy on stemming the spread of nuclear weapons.

There were several highly technical issues holding up the announcement. But, in essence, India wanted the coveted status of an official nuclear state, a recognition that would get it into the most exclusive club in the world. Under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, only the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain are weapons states. All other countries, except for Pakistan, India and Israel, signed on to the agreement, promising to forgo nuclear weapons in exchange for civilian nuclear technology. Now India wanted the technology, wanted to remain outside the treaty and wanted membership in the club. The final agreement fudged the issue.

"They were really demanding that we recognize them as a weapons state," said a senior official who was knowledgeable about the discussions. "Thank God we said no to that, but they almost got it. The Indians were incredibly greedy that day. They were getting 99 percent of what they asked for and still they pushed for 100."

Last month, Bush and Singh agreed on an implementation plan specifying that 14 of India's 22 nuclear plants would be subject to international inspections. But the country's eight other reactors, and any future ones for military purposes, would be off-limits. And although the Bush administration originally wanted a pact that would let India continue producing material for six to 10 weapons each year, the plan would allow it enough fissile material for as many as 50 annually.

U.S. officials said Bush had kept his focus on a core idea -- that India is a thriving, pluralistic democracy, one of the good guys in international relations -- and thus was willing to sweep away nuclear orthodoxy. The goal, an official said, was to position India to be one of the United States' two or three closest partners.

Only after the announcement did the administration begin to brief members of Congress. One U.S. official involved in the negotiations said the failure to consult with Congress or to build support for the agreement within the bureaucracy has created lasting problems: "The way they jammed it through is going to haunt us."

Staff writer Dafna Linzer contributed to this report.