Quote Originally Posted by Gregg View Post
Depends on how you define success. While the size of the US military and the geographic isolation of the country certainly diminishes the chances anyone will mount a blitzkrieg against us, there are those who feel that little skirmish in Sept. of 2001 had elements of a successful invasion. The problem might be looking at it through the eyes of the invaded rather than the invaders. We seem to just assume that conquest is the goal when subversion may be more accurate. Attacks in NY, London, Madrid, Mumbai, etc. were generally carried out by foreigners (invaders?) and their actions have lead to at least incremental changes in the behavior of the invaded (success?).
I agree that these qualify as invasions, at least on some level. And I would expect that future "invasions" of this type are the most likely. However, invasions of this type are not fended off well by a traditional military. Posting an aircraft carrier in NY Harbor or a battallion of soldiers in the plaza at the world trade center would not likely have been successful at preventing the attack.