I just got a copy of Ken Pollack's latest book on Iran, The Persian Puzzle, and was shocked on flipping to page 429, the Author's Note at the end of the book, to read that Pollack has never been to Iran and doesn't speak Persian, has only dribs and drabs of Arabic.
You'd think a book that purports to explain the "Persian Puzzle" might have offered that disclaimer at the front.
The real issue is that Ken Pollack helped lead us into war in Iraq. If I'd been that person I'd have crawled under my bed and not come out for a few years. If I'd been in charge of a media outlet I wouldn't have let him near a press/camera.