Something to Die for by James Webb

This is a story of war in the 1990s-a limited "peacetime" battle raging in a distant Third World desert, which requires unusual technical expertise and great physical courage from the men who fight it. It is also the story of two politicians, a cunning young bureaucrat about to claim the highest ground in Washington, and a savvy political operator from the heartland with one deal too many to his name. Between them, there is a beautiful woman and a man-to-man competition that becomes a determinant in global strategy. In the balance are the lives of thousands of fighting men, perhaps even the course of history. Alternating his views between the increasing grimness of the battlefield and the manic jockeying on Capitol Hill, James Webb draws his graphically etched characters to a memorable confrontation and treats the reader to a darkly illuminating vision of contemporary history, Washington-style -- Page 2 of cover.