Clinton offered nukes to India: Indian Prime Minister

theage.com.au ^ | April 10, 2004 - 10:30AM | AAP

[Destro]

US offered nukes to India: PM

April 10, 2004 - 10:30AM

India's Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said that the United States offered to supply his country with nuclear bombs in an attempt to dissuade it from launching nuclear tests in 1998.

Strobe Talbott, who was the US State Department's No 2 official at that time, said there was no basis for Vajpayee's statement.

Vajpayee told an election rally in Bhubaneshwar, the capital of eastern Orissa state, that he rejected Washington's offer because India needed to demonstrate it was capable of building its own nuclear weapons.

"When I told them (Americans) you also have made that bomb, they replied when required you can take that from us. I told them frankly this bomb needs to be made and not borrowed," Vajpayee said.

He said the offer came as the United States encouraged India not to go ahead with nuclear tests in 1998.

"But we went ahead with the tests," Vajpayee said.

Both India and its rival Pakistan have an undeclared number of nuclear weapons.

Talbott said the credibility of Vajpayee's comment is "zero, less than zero." India's nuclear test caught the Clinton administration completely by surprise, he said.

"How were we supposed to make this offer if we didn't know they were going to do it?" he asked.

Talbott added that the administration first learned of India's action from news reports.

Talbott travelled to the region later in May 1998 to urge India and Pakistan to exercise restraint in light of the new situation.

The prime minister reiterated the government's position that India would never be the first to launch a nuclear attack but, "we will not hesitate to use it if somebody used the bomb against us."

Vajpayee made the comments during a rally for India's parliamentary elections, which will be held in four phases between April 20 and May 10.

©2003 AAP

[Destro]

Holy Cow!!!

[Destro]

Congressional hearings, NOW!!!

[demkicker]

Hmmmmmm, Strobe sounds a wee bit defensive.

[4everontheRight]

Clinton would sell his own soul for...oh, wait...he already did that!

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #2

Wait! Did Clinton pull the similar trick with Chinese as well? That is, "Stop developing your own MIRV, and I will give you a finished American MIRV in return."

I want his answers under oath!

[dennisw]

Bill Clinton is anti-Christ lite due to being the biggest nuclear proliferator outside of Abdul Qadeer Khan and the Pakistan nuclear establishment.

[XHogPilot]

Who's the Freeper that always posts "Nothing to see here.... Move along."

[ScaniaBoy]

Exactly! Even the suspicion that the former administration would have acted to promote nuclear proliferation in one of the most volatile regions in the world should be enough to set up another commission.

Where are NY Times, Washington Post, CNN, ABC etc, etc on this issue? (/rhetorical question)

ScaniaBoy

[XHogPilot]

Talbott said the credibility of Vajpayee's comment is "zero, less than zero."

And the President who "World-without-Borders"-Talbot worked for had even less.

[Just mythoughts]

There is no surprise here the Clintons stated foreign policy was "EQUALIZE ALL NATIONS".

Given that policy exactly what is the "object" that is a known "EQUALIZER" nuclear weapons!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

to the Red Chinese.

[ASA Vet]

I want his answers under oath!

Why?
His word under oath has been proven worthless.

[Bob]

("Anyone who signed up after 11/28/97 is a newbie")

Must have been a bunch of us that signed up that day. :=)

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #12

Sorry to say this, but your point is well-taken.:)

[ASA Vet]

Must have been a bunch of us that signed up that day.

11/28/97 is Jim's sign up date not mine. I'm much later, by my own definition I'm a newbie.
You are the first FReeper I've seen with a day 1 sign-up, other than Jim of course.

[pending]

I second the motion for an investigation.


Maybe this is what Reno had on him?

[adam_az]

Talbott said the credibility of Vajpayee's comment is "zero, less than zero." India's nuclear test caught the Clinton administration completely by surprise, he said.

Lessee.... Clinton is an admitted perjurer, and Vajpayee isn't. Which has more credibility...

[Bob]

11/28/97 is Jim's sign up date not mine. I'm much later, by my own definition I'm a newbie.

You are the first FReeper I've seen with a day 1 sign-up, other than Jim of course.

Ooops. I didn't even check your sign up date. I didn't realize that 11/28/97 was JimRob's date and not yours.

There actually was a short time period when registration wasn't required to post. Jim instituted registration and a bunch of us signed up at the same time.

[montag813]

Talbott said the credibility of Vajpayee's comment is "zero, less than zero."

We are talking about the sitting Prime Minister of India--the world's largest democracy, and a U.S. ally. This is an extremely serious charge, and one that must immediately result in hearings to be called by Dick Lugar and his House counterpart. An attempt to traffic in nuclear weapons as part of diplomatic activities is a violation of more than a dozen Federal and International laws.

[Army Air Corps]

And how does this differ from business as usual under the Clintoon admin.? Those clowns rewrote laws and precedents as they went along.