A clandestine rendezvous.
An errant U-2 spy plane.
A madman’s plan for war.

Six years after the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein plots revenge against his enemies. A new and far more virulent form of VX nerve gas, called the City Killer by Western analysts, is finally produced in quantity. With the last of his SCUD missiles, Saddam plans to launch a devastating attack.
      A clandestine rendezvous between a Han Class Chinese submarine and an Iraqi freighter to deliver the Chinese-produced nerve agent takes place in the Northern Gulf. Something goes terribly wrong, and an errant U-2 spy plane happens to photograph the result.
      Major Jim Harper leads a hastily assembled team back into Iraq. Harper faces dissension within his own team, uncertain support inside the intelligence community and a hostile welcome from the Al Amn al-Khas—Iraq’s Special Security Service.

Point of Honor is based on an actual incident. During a seven-day period, starting on November 15, 1997, the United Nations weapon inspector teams were expelled from Iraq. They were permitted back inside Iraq shortly before Thanksgiving of the same year.
      There was a great deal of tension between America and Iraq during this time period, and the very real possibility of an expanded conflict (beyond the occasional air strike) seemed possible. The Nimitz and George Washington carrier task forces were patrolling the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea, and America still had F-117A Nighthawks based at Al Jabar Air base in Kuwait.
      Doctor Rihab Rashida al-Awazi, nicknamed Dr. Germ by western intelligence agencies, was (and still is) the head of Saddam’s chemical and biological warfare programs at the time of the story. She was politically well connected, the forty-two year old woman and mother of a small daughter. It is quite possible that the weaponized Anthrax mailed to various members of the media and Congress originated in her labs.
      Finally, Point of Honor suggests Chinese duplicity in the spread of banned technologies to rogue nations. This is certainly borne out by the continued sale of missile technology to Pakistan, North Korea, Iraq and Iran, and by the large numbers of Chinese arms found in the caves at Tora Bora and Gardez.