And President Bush wants to help. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently signed an agreement to assist Saudi Arabia with nuclear technology. The agreement also includes training nuclear engineers and constructing nuclear infrastructure. With oil hovering around $130 per barrel, why would they want to burn it in their own power plants instead of selling it to the world?
Critics believe that Saudi Arabia wants to get into the nuclear weapons industry and commercial nuke development is a way to do it. Critics also say that it is hypocritical for America to support the Saudi nuclear development while opposing such development by Iran, even though the USA started that program under the Atoms For Peace during the Shah of Iran's reign.
Yet the critics are wrong. America has offered the same deal to Iran as it did to Saudi Arabia. That is participation in the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) that would provide controls over the uranium fuel. Iran has rejected the offer and Saudi Arabia has accepted it. Simple as that. We support the GNEP program.
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