'Deja vu all over again'

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today warned Iranian leaders that "the next steps are in the offing" if they don't stop their nuclear enrichment program. "And I think everybody understands what 'the next steps' mean," she said.

Rice quickly added that military intervention isn't an option "at this point in time." And since President Bush wasn't ordering an invasion of Iran at the very moment those words were coming out of her mouth, she was technically correct.

But yes, Ms. Rice, despite your assertions to the contrary, we do know what you mean. As former U.S. chief weapons inspector David Kay said today, "It's deja vu all over again. You have the secretary of defense talking about the problems of a nuclear-
armed Iran. You have the vice president warning about a nuclear-armed Iran and terrorism; you have Condoleezza Rice saying, 'Force is not on the agenda -- yet.'"

Nope, never heard anything like that before.