美日开战 (1994)

Debt of Honor is a techno-thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and released on August 17, 1994. A direct sequel to The Sum of All Fears (1991), Jack Ryan becomes the National Security Advisor when a secret cabal of Japanese industrialists seize control of their country's government and wage war on the United States. The book debuted at number one on The New York Times bestseller list. The novel was later noted as containing plot elements which were similar to the circumstances of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93.

Plot

A car accident in East Tennessee, caused by faulty gas tanks made in Japan, kills six Americans in a multi-vehicle collision. The incident prompts the swift passage of a law allowing the United States to mirror the trade practices of countries to which it exports, cutting off the export markets on which Japan's economy depends. Facing economic crisis, Japan's zaibatsu, led by industrialist Raizo Yamata, decides to take economic and military action against the U.S., with covert support from China and India.

After the Japanese Prime Minister Mogataru Koga resigns in disgrace, the zaibatsu installs Hiroshi Goto, an aggressive nationalist and critic of the U.S., as his successor. Japan has also secretly developed nuclear weapons and, using SS-19 designs bought from the former Soviet Union, has built and deployed several ICBMs.

Japan begins its assault by sending Self-Defense Force units to occupy the Mariana Islands, specifically Saipan and Guam, without casualties. During a joint military exercise, Japanese ships also "accidentally" launch torpedoes at the U.S. Pacific Fleet, destroying two submarines and crippling two aircraft carriers. Before the U.S. can retaliate, Japan launches an economic attack, hiring a programmer who consults for an exchange firm to insert a logic bomb that deletes all trade records made after noon on Friday, causing the U.S. stock market to collapse. Japan also assassinates the President of the Federal Reserve Bank. The Japanese government then immediately sue for peace, proposing international talks and apparently free elections in the Marianas to delay an American response.

Meanwhile, Jack Ryan is recalled from retirement by U.S. President Roger Durling, who appoints him National Security Advisor. Rather than concentrating on the military threat, Ryan urges Durling to address the economic crisis first, recognising that the deleted trade records can be turned to America's advantage. He engineers a "do-over", restoring all trade information to its state at noon on the day of the deletion and disregarding the lost transactions. The stock market recovers with only minor disruption, while U.S. investment banks begin a massive sell-off of Japanese investment products, wiping out the zaibatsu's economic gains.

The United States then launches a military counterattack. CIA operatives John Clark and Domingo Chavez use a Dazzler to blind the pilots of two incoming Japanese E-767 aircraft, causing them to crash while landing. The U.S. Air Force subsequently destroys Japan's remaining AWACS aircraft through dispersed, low-profile attacks, enabling B-2 bombers to destroy its concealed ICBM silos. Stealthy F-22 fighters further damage Japan's air defences. An Army special operations team is parachuted into Japan to support covertly deployed Comanche helicopters. One helicopter attacks an AWACS aircraft with air-to-air missiles, while others use Hellfire missiles to kill members of Yamata's cabal. Meanwhile, Admiral Robby Jackson retakes the Marianas using cruise missiles and carrier aircraft to destroy Japanese aircraft, forcing the Japanese commander to surrender.

Cornered by the American military and economic response, Goto resigns and restores Koga to power. Koga, who had earlier been rescued by Clark and Chavez from Yamata, takes control, while Yamata and his surviving conspirators are arrested for treason. The new Japanese government accepts the generous U.S. offer of status quo ante.

Throughout the conflict, President Durling also faces a political crisis when Vice President Ed Kealty resigns after being accused of rape. After the crisis is resolved, Durling nominates Ryan as vice president in recognition of his handling of the conflict. However, an embittered Japan Air Lines pilot, driven mad by the deaths of his son and brother, deliberately flies his Boeing 747 into the U.S. Capitol during a special joint session of Congress. The attack kills the president, nearly the entire Congress, the Supreme Court, and many other members of the federal government. Ryan, travelling to be sworn in as vice president after his confirmation, narrowly survives. He becomes President of the United States and takes the oath of office before a district judge in the CNN studios in Washington.

Characters

The United States government

Jack Ryan: National Security Advisor to President Durling. Previously worked at the CIA. Later appointed as Vice President of the United States for successfully handling the crisis between the United States and Japan, Ryan was to serve out the end of disgraced former Vice President Kealty's term with the assurance that, upon completion of that final duty, he could permanently retire from government service and be relieved of any future obligation to serve. However, he becomes President after his superior was killed in the attack on the United States Capitol.

Roger Durling: President of the United States. Succeeded J. Robert Fowler after his resignation in the previous novel. Dies in the Capitol attack.

Edward Jonathan Kealty: Vice President of the United States who later resigns from his post after it was publicly revealed that he was under FBI investigation for sexual misconduct.

Brett Hanson: Secretary of State. Dies in the Capitol attack.

Bosley "Buzz" Fiedler: Secretary of the Treasury. Dies in the Capitol attack.