Rice says Iran war not inevitable

While the president continues to address U.S. foreign policy with movie tough guy rhetoric, the secretary of state is trying to dial back the sabre rattling a little bit.

Introducing a new, more sober tone to the debate over Iran, Condi Rice says all diplomatic options will be exhausted in the attempt to resolve the issue of that country's nuclear program.

Although President Bush said again this week that all options, including the use of force, remain on the table to stop Iran from producing nuclear warheads, Rice maintained in an appearance before the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations that diplomatic measures must first be exhausted.

Rice said that many "diplomatic tools" will be used and that she hoped Iran would get the message from a unified international community. The UN Security Council has given Iran until April 28 to halt uranium enrichment.

"In order to turn the Iranians back from what has been behavior that is contrary to all the wishes of the international community, we are prepared to use measures at our disposal--political, economic, others--to dissuade Iran," Rice said during a question-and-answer session with the audience.

This could be a sign that Bush is beginning to realize that the American people wil not support another elective military adventure, no matter how hard the administration and the war-pundits try to convince us we should.