India Plays the Lobbying Game

India isn't relying on diplomacy to win the U.S. Congress's backing for the controversial nuclear cooperation pact announced by George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi two weeks ago. It's playing the Washington game like the locals do--with lobbyists. Long before Bush's visit, India lined up two lobbying firms to sell the deal. The Indian embassy signed a $700,000 contract last fall with Barbour, Griffith & Rogers, an outfit led by Robert Blackwill, Bush's ambassador to India from 2001 to 2003. The embassy is also paying $600,000 to Venable, a firm that boasts former Democratic Senator...

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