Mission Improbable by Scott McConnell

But the differences are worth noting. The Iraq War was an intellectuals’ project, and the neoconservatives pushed it vigorously. Republican resistance was minimal. On Iran today, there isn’t the same lockstep momentum. For instance, in early February, the American Enterprise Institute held an event devoted to the Iranian nuclear issue—a packed room, a charismatic right-wing senator (Kansan Sam Brownback) as keynote speaker, panelists who had been championing a hard line against Tehran for years. Representatives of various Iranian exile groups circled the room, while AEI’s resident blonde war goddess, Danielle Pletka, presided. And yet no one on the podium could bring himself to say that an American military solution had much chance of successfully resolving the problem.