Balance of Power

Rating:
Summary: Who's Got the Power?
Review: James Huston's 'Balance of Power' is a decent read that require that you place your brain on hold. Mr Huston is no Tom Clancy but this lightweight political/military thriller is an enjoyable waste of time that will give the reader both an enjoyable diversion and insight into the mind of the reactionary right wing world view. This book has the endorsement of Rush Limbaugh which in itself should be warning enough. So if you can get past the obvious right wing (and I don't mean conservative) ideology, poor character development, plot inconsistencies, and a misreading of the U.S. Constitution, you will enjoy this thriller, which like a good fantasy novel, requires a willful suspension of disbelief.
A group of Indonesian terrorists hijack an American auto cargo vessel, kill the crew, kidnap the captain, and sink the ship warning the US never to darken the Sea of Java again. Although we are giving hints now and then, the reader is never sure who the terrorists are - terrorists, pirates or part of some other vast conspiracy. Neither are we sure if they are Indonesian, Thai, or Chinese. It doesn't really matter. Nor do the other loose plot details that appear and disappear. This book is a novel of military action which is done very well and is truly exciting. It is also a novel of politics which is sure to stir debate and discussion with thoughtful readers
The weak President of the U.S., Edward Manchester, somewhat modeled on a combination of the character traits of Democrats Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton decides to let the Indonesians handle the terrorist incident. The strong Republican Speaker of the House, John Stanbridge, modeled on a fantasized Newt Gringrich, dislikes Manchester and wants an immediate strike at the terrorists. Thanks to an aide, Jim Dillon, Stanbridge decides to invoke Article 1, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution which states that among the powers granted to Congress is "to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and to make rules concerning captures on land and water" [Note: Actually, the term used in the original draft of the Constitution was "to make war" which was changed so as not to tie the hands of the President in times of emergency. This in turn was changed, over President Nixon's veto in 1973, by the War Powers Act]. The Speaker gets Congress to override the President and send a letter of marque to the commander of a carrier battle group in the Java Sea authorizing an attack on the terrorists. President Manchester follows with an order to disregard the letter of marque and to obey his order as Commander-in-Chief. The plot is further complicated with kidnapped missionaries, impeachment threats of the President, and a love interest so obtuse that the reader would probably miss it if you blink hard.
The author has some interesting dialogues between the two opposing sides of the Letter of Marque issue but the reader should be aware that although the issue is a thoughtful one and worthy of debate, it is used the author to proselytize his right wing point of view. The opposing points of view of the President and his counsel are mere paper tigers, viewpoints and character behaviors that are established only for the purpose of tearing them down.
The issue of the 'letter of marque' is a popular one in the right wing press. Right wing groups such as the Liberty Committee have been advocating the granting of authority to hire private armies to fight perceived enemies such as socialists for a long time. Think militia. Recently, Congressman Ron Paul introduced H.R. 3074 and H.R. 3076 to grant President Bush the authority to issue letters of marque to fight terrorists. Historically, letters of marque were official licenses issued on behalf of the head of government in time of war to private citizens which gave them limited legal protection to act as privateers. That is, to use their own ships, at their own expense, to make war on the merchant shipping of countries with which their own county was at war, and to profit from the sale of any ships and cargoes they could capture. Without this protection they would simply be treated as pirates if captured. Here is the dictionary definition: "1. A document issued by a nation allowing a private citizen to seize citizens or goods of another nation. 2. A document issued by a nation allowing a private citizen to equip a ship with arms in order to attack enemy ships."
The meaning of the letter of marque in the Constitution is a good one for heated debate and its real history is fascinating. For example, the marque and reprisal clause in the constitution was written as part of a framework to consolidated national sovereignty into a then newly centralized government, and make sure that the nations war making power was divided fairly among the three branches of government. The executive branch was given the power to wage war; the legislative branch was given to power to control the purse strings. The theory behind the letter of marque is what lies behind the executive's ability to assign organizations such as the CIA war-like capability with the authority and money granted by Congress. The section quoted by Mr Huston (Article 1, Section 8) also needs to be understood in the context of other clauses in the Constitution which Mr Huston omits such as Article 1, Section 10 which forbids states and private individuals from going to war. The issue of the letter of marque is not one of 'Balance of Power as implied by Mr Huston, but of 'Separation of Power'.
Mr Huston has written a right wing political novel masquerading as a thriller. You can enjoy the novel as a good thriller as I did. It is well written but be aware that 'Balance of Power' is a right wingers political fantasy. The reader must think about what the writer implies about the powers of the executive and the powers of a congressman. And then read the sequel, "The Price of Power'. It is better written and just as exciting as this effort.

Rating:
Summary: Constitutional Crisis, Military Action, a Solid Debut
Review: James W. Huston has garnered a bunch of fans with his debut novel. Along with Rush Limbaugh and the thousands of others who have read this interesting story of a constitutional crisis between a dovish President as Commander in Chief and a hawkish Speaker of the House, I found myself liking this book.

Huston does some interesting things with his characters. His fictional President, like the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has no military experience. His Speaker of the House, unlike his real life model, Newt Gingrich, is a former naval officer who saw combat in Vietnam as a brown water sailor in the navy's riverine forces. As a veteran, I found both the President and the Speaker unlikable. The President was an un- realistic idealist and the Speaker a jingoistic opportunist. Mr. Huston did a good job of developing both of these figures well enough to make me dislike them and in that, I felt he did a creditable job.

Perhaps the most valuable lessons learned from this book, especially to the unitiated, were the descriptions of the workings of the various branches of the federal government. Despite the fact that the book is a novel, I think it could be used as a primer on federalism for high school students. If used at the college level, I would recommend that it be used in political science courses covering both the Presidency and the Congress.

Mr. Huston's credentials as an F-14 NFO and Intelligence Officer shines through. His training as a lawyer shines through as well when he discusses the various constitutional issues that develop as a result of his plot. I would like to correct some of the other critics who wrote here on a point of fact. Mr. Huston was not an F-14 pilot. The dust jacket points out that he was an F-14 NFO (Naval Flight Officer). That's the Guy In Back. Remember Goose in TOP GUN? Needless to say, while he may not have actually flown them, he was trained to fight in them and that background lends him a credibility not available with other authors.

Mr. Huston, like a lot of lawyers has taken to writing and I think his debut novel was a fine first effort. I look forward to his next effort because this one reminds me of the early Tom Clancy. I just hope that he doesn't run out of steam (or plausible story lines) like Tom Clancy seems to have done of late. While Mr. Clancy seems to have invented the techno-thriller as a genre, there have been many who followed his example and provided the reading public with hours of reading entertainment.

I wish Mr. Huston good fortune in his writing career. He may well be Tom Clancy's heir in the political-military thriller arena.

Rating:
Summary: excellent political and military thriller
Review: Truly fantastic political and military thriller, one of my favorite works of fiction I have read the last few years. Author James W. Huston, drawing skillfully both upon his military background as an F-14 fighter pilot in the US Navy and his legal background as a lawyer, has crafted a tightly woven yarn about terrorism in the South Pacific - Indonesia to be exact - and what the President and the US Congress do about it.

When terrorists capture the US flagged merchant ship Pacific Flyer, kill most of the crew, kidnap the captain, and then booby-trap the ship to kill potential rescuers, the world is stunned. Though the world expects President Manchester (a fictional president who serves after the President Clinton of this novel's timeline), to react, he does not order a military strike, instead announcing he is against continuing the "cycle of violence" and that while he will order a carrier battle fleet to help find the terrorist's island hideout, will not act militarily, instead seeing it as an internal Indonesian police matter.

Many are outraged as his reaction, none more so than Speaker of the House John Stanbridge. Furous over what he sees as a failure to act and accusing the President of pacifism, he tries to get around the President's orders regarding the terrorists, hidden on a foritified island which the battle group centered around the carrier USS Constitution under Admrial Billings locates.

Brash and brilliant aide to Standbridge, Jim Dillon, comes up with a little known provision in the US Constituion in Article I, Secton 8, relating to the power of the Congress to issues Letters of Marque and Reprisal. Researching it, he finds that the power was formerly used to grant legal authority to armed merchantmen in times of war, authorizing private ships to act as war ships. Instead, with Standbrige's support, it is proposed, voted on, and passed, the Letter instead issued to the Constitution battle group!

I won't comment much more on the course of the novel, other than to say it is great political thriller to see the constitutional crisis that comes to embroil all three branches of the federal government, and the struggle of Congress and the President to get the battle group to act how they see fit. It is also a great military thriller, to see a US carrier battle group, with fighters, attack craft, helicopters, and Marines operating against terrorists, a true joy to read particularly in the wake of the tragic and horrid attacks of September 11, 2001.

Highly recommend this work to all fans of military fiction, technothrillers, political thrillers, and fans of Tom Clancy. Pay close attention to the events in the novel, as there is truly excellent follow up in the riveting sequel, The Price of Power.