Iran's nuclear path.

• Author: Pal, Amitabh
• Position: The Iranian Labyrinth: Journeys Through Theocratic Iran and Its Furies - Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran - Brief article - Book review

The Iranian Labyrinth: Journeys Through Theocratic Iran and Its Furies By Dilip Hiro Nation Books. 448 pages. $17.95.

Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran By Kenneth R. Timmerman Crown Forum. 392 pages. $25.95.

The current standoff regarding Iran's nuclear program poses a difficult challenge. After the Iranian government decided to proceed again on its path of "nuclear research" by breaking the seals at a key facility on January 10, matters came to a head.

Two recent books attempt to provide details on various facets of the Iranian regime and people.

Kenneth Timmerman is a rightwing hack. He has published anti-Jesse Jackson and anti-France screeds, and Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran plays true to type.

The construction of Timmerman's book is so shoddy that I wondered if it went through any editing. His preferred mode seems to be to write in short, choppy chapters that succeed each other in no particular order and make the book almost incoherent.

And the book has so many factual flaws that it's hard to know where to start. The most outrageous is Timmerman's allegation that Iran was behind the downing of the TWA airliner that crashed near New York City in 1996. "Dramatic new evidence--presented here for the first time--suggests that Iran may have been responsible for the destruction of TWA Flight 800 off the coast of Long Island on July 17, 1996," he writes. He claims to have had advance knowledge of the plot and says he tried in vain to alert the authorities. The allegation is so preposterous that even the publisher has decided not to highlight it on the book flap. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the "most likely" explanation for the explosion was a short circuit outside of the center wing fuel tank.

Equally ridiculous is the allegation that Iran was behind September 11. Not only that, Timmerman alleges that Osama is hiding out in Iran. "Today, Iran's leaders are plotting new attacks on the West with Osama bin Laden, whom they are sheltering inside Iran," he writes.

Timmerman also tries to make a connection between the Oklahoma City bombing and Al Qaeda and the Iranians.

He also has the bad habit of reconstructing private conversations (that didn't include him) verbatim, even thoughts inside people's heads. The effect is that of a bad pulp novel. He has one Iranian cabinet member looking over a folder and smiling to himself. How does Timmerman know? Then there are inappropriate comments, such as "Mohammad Baqr Zolqadr, the dark-skinned fanatic."

Timmerman grinds one ax after another...