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As war clouds grew darker and darker in recent months, American book publishers engaged in their own race against a deadline. Banking on a growing public appetite for information about Saddam Hussein, Iraq, and the invasion of Kuwait, they have been rushing books on the Persian Gulf crisis into print in a frenzy to beat competitors. The more notable recent books include: *The Rape of Kuwait by Jean P. Sasson (Knightsbridge, $4.95). Produced in four weeks, this slim volume of unapologetic propaganda details horror stories told by Kuwaitis who fled the advancing Iraqi army. Sasson, a hospital administrator who worked in Saudi Arabia, is no stylist (''Of all the stories leaking from bleeding Kuwait ''), but Knightsbridge is giving her book a huge push: 200,000 copies are en route to Gulf troops, and 1 million more are headed for bookstores. *Saddam Hussein and the Crisis in the Gulf by Judith Miller and Laurie Mylroie (Times Books, $5.95). In a September meeting, Random House chairman Alberto Vitale bellowed, ''If Washington can put 150,000 troops halfway around the world, certainly Random House can put an equal number of books in every K Mart in America!'' The result of his battle cry is this account by a New York Times editor and a Harvard professor, which went from brainstorm to bookstore in six weeks. Industry sources are concerned that, in the haste to print, the book may carry unsubstantiated information.
*Republic of Fear by Samir al-Khalil (Pantheon, $12.95). Published in 1989 by University of California Press (it sold 4,000 copies), this account of Hussein's rise, written by a pseudonymous Iraqi exile, was hastily reprinted after the Kuwait invasion. Pantheon's parent company, Random House, hoped to convince al-Khalil to rework Republic with Judith Miller, but he declined: ''His book would have lost some authority,'' says a U. of C. Press publicist.
*Bantam Books capitalized on interest in the Gulf by plastering 30,000 copies of Barrett Tillman's 1990 Saudi Arabia adventure novel Warriors ($8.95) with stickers that scream ''It's War Over the Arabian Desert!'' In the rush to publish, the nonfiction entries seem only slightly more credible than the make-believe.
