Target Iran by Scott Ritter.

The threat from Iran is 'fear-based' and not 'fact-based' he says, and it's hard to disagree.

Book Review by CC Mapletoft | 10 Feb 2007
Book title: Target Iran
Author: Scott Ritter.
It's a tricky business writing explosive political works attacking the US Government's foreign policy, in a time where there seems little or no alternative or real political opposition to speak of.

However, Scott Ritter's new book stems from his disgust at the White House's exaggeration of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program. A former UN weapons inspector himself, Ritter attracted fame with his equally accusatory tome 'War on Iraq', which claimed that Iraq had been disarmed and posed no threat to global security. It was ignored, and a few years of bloodshed hence the rest is, as they say, history.

Ritter's basic claim in this new work is that Iran poses no viable nuclear threat, backed up by a series of complicated - though at times seemingly irrelevant - sources. If you can look beyond what seems to be pages of political jargon, Ritter's message is clear. The threat from Iran is 'fear-based' and not 'fact-based' he says, and it's hard to disagree.

The one problem that Ritter's book poses is that although it is written simply and directly, it is still a hard read. This is because the slightest fact, no matter its importance, is included, and this often sidetracks Ritter's argument.

Quibbles aside, this argument is essentially vital. The main problem that he is aiming to address is the fact that Israel holds too much influence in Congress, and thus manipulates public and political opinion to its benefit. In this case, a pre-emptive strike against Iran would be beneficial, though there are other influences that would like this too.

Now that Iraq seems to be firmly at the forefront of political thinking here and across the pond, Ritter's book comes at a time when it is especially relevant. But readers may wish to take notes as they go, for their own sanity.
Release date 5 Feb 2007. Published by Politico's Publishing. Cover Price £16.99 Hardback.