Our own leaders counted on the residents of Iraq to join the invading force to overthrow their oppressive overlord.
Could not an invading force coming into the U.S. count on the same?
correction noted. he was hidden only for a few hours 
And I quite enjoy those jokes (Leno) 
First, you have to fly in several hundred (probably more like thousands) non-descript people to National, Dulles and Baltimore airports over a few days.
Next you have to bivouac them around Washington until everyone is ready to go.
Then you have a bunch of big rigs thunder up Pennsylvania Avenue (which, incidentally has been closed to traffic since 1995), have the troops jump out, run that last couple of hundred yards where the trucks couldn’t go and open fire until the military guards, the security personnel and the D.C. police are subdued, break into a heavily fortified building, and find the President before he has a chance to slip into an even more heavily fortified underground bunker.
And you probably want to accomplish this before reinforcements come in from the military bases that ring Washington, various local and state police departments, and a few local gangs that are looking for target practice.
Yeah, I suppose it COULD be done.
It’s good to think things. They just need to be feasible in order to make others believe them.
The question wasn’t “can someone kidnap the President,” it was “could a foreign military drive Bush into hiding and then capture him?” This implies that the President is on the run, and there is a military force capable of isolating, tracking and containing him. The answer to that question is, no way, no how. Period. No asterisk.
I’m also dubious on the ability of any military force to arrive unseen on American soil, become armed, overpower the Secret Service, and make off with the leader of the world’s only Superpower. This isn’t “Delta Force.” Logistically, there simply isn’t any way to pull that off.
If you wanted to capture teh President of teh United States your best chance would be while he is travelling and not in the White House. Even then you will have a tough time of it. Secret Service are all expert marksmen (IIRC). Advnace teams go ahead and scout where the President will be and place security in strategic locations that most people probably never see. The President’s limosine may look like a Cadillac but it is more akin to a tank. Details are classified but speculation has it having heavy armor plating all around, very bullet proof glass, special hubs that can drive the car safely at high speed with all four tires shot out and so on. The Presidential limosine goes wherever he goes…including overseas.
So maybe it COULD be done as mentioned before but it would be exceedingly difficult and considering the effort why bother? Also as mentioned the US government will run just fine without the President with the VP taking over till it was resolved one way or another. All you’d do is REALLY piss off the US and practically guarantee an armed invasion of the country that sponsored it or harbored the terrorists who did it.
Chastaine86…mind if I use this in my signature line in the future?
“It’s good to think things. They just need to be feasible in order to make others believe them.”
LOL!! Yogini
The president in question would have to be REALLY unpopular; probably more unpopular than any American president has ever been.
In a word, no. We may not like the SOB, but there’s a definite “Rally 'Round the President” when the country is under attack.
Canada and Mexico probably don’t have the numbers. China might have the numbers, but they need to get their guys over here. For starters, I don’t think they have the amphibious capability. If they’re carrying em in regular old ships, then they’re going to be open to sub and air attack across the entire Pacific. Starting before they even leave port, probably, from U.S. bases on Okinawa (and any carrier groups that happen to be near by).
Ah, some numbers from this site…
As of 8/98, Mexico had 130,000 men in its Army. Canada had 20,900.The U.S. had 479,000. I don’t know if that includes Guard and Reserve units.
Yes, we might have quite a bit overseas, but if Canada and Mexico started massing troops on our borders, I’m sure we’d find a way to ensure we were covered.
I’d venture Abraham Lincoln, in South Carolina, in the right part of the 1860s would have been that unpopular. But only regionally…
How unlikely is a remote possibility? Using the remotest possibility as the low bar with many billions to 1 odds, nothing that could conceivably happen as things stand now IRL, then yes I can spin a remote & extremely unlikely scenario:
(1)Russia launches a full nuclear attack on the United States and the President for whatever reason - say he was a Pacifist/or asks WWJD as the finger lingers over the button - decides not to take the rest of the world down with us and orders the SAC and all Armed Forces around the world not to retaliate with nuclear weapons (that is the key)(2).
At that point, assuming that the U.S. Armed and Intelligence Services under those conditions didn’t shoot or coup the President themselves (3) & he escapes the soon-to-be-a-crater-DC, it is conceivable that in 2004 there is still enough functioning Soviet era equipment to insert a fair-sized expeditionary force into the chaos that would be the surviving rump U.S. - after Russia emptied her nuclear revolver into her - and capture the President.
Besides** 1-3 ** being varying degrees of highly unlikely – but all being things all which would need to happen for the scenario to work - there is still the variable of How reliable and effective of the Russian ICBM fleet is today. Even though it is still comparable to the past on paper.
Hand in hand with that, the Russian nuclear strike would need to almost totally destroy the U.S. armed forces in the U.S. (not inconceivable/likley under this scenerio) and the U.S. fleet – which would be harder but with all the Russian nuclear might bent to it, not impossible.
As I said up top – it depends on your definition of “remotest possibility” …This is pretty remote stuff … but would I say under the scenerio as laid out “absolutely impossible”? No
Yes, the line IS around mainland America. The line at which nuclear force is no longer an option.
Are you seriously suggesting that we’d drop nukes on our own territory in the event of attack?
Throughout history, when the head snake of a rogue nation (insert your own names) was deposed, killed or sent into exile, there was usually a drastic change in that countries politics, etc. If GWB was taken out, not one thing would change in the U.S. The government would continue on as before, and so on and so on.
That is only the US Army, there are 1.4 million on Active Duty in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marines, all sworn to protect and defend the Constitution, from all enemies, foriegn and domestic. With the Reserves, add another 1.3 million for the Select Reserve (drilling reserve), Individual Ready Reserve (like me) and Inactive National Guard (cite), for a total of about 2.7 million folks who know something about fighting a war.
Now to the earlier question from adam yax
the answer is no, the majority is not in those two tourist hot spots. Total force deployment to Iraq is around 130,000, Afghanistan is about 9,000, and Bosnia still has about 3,000. 37,000 in South Korea. Total about 180,000 “deployed” on land in those areas. The US Navy also has a long of folks floating, but they can get back within few weeks normally, from most anywhere. Germany still has many Army units based there, but many of them are deployed to the Middle East.
The crux of this is, the US Military is huge, and less than 7% of them are in Iraq, Afghanistan and Korea, combined.
I figure the 5.7 billion (give or take a few hundred million people) who despise Bush could put aside their other differences and rally together to depose Bush. But in that case I suppose Bush would just nuke the world, so no we’re stuck with him for another term; only the American constitution can save humanity. lol
One of the all-time best SDMB threads was posted a couple of years back, titled something like The USA vs. The Rest of the World. It asked if the US could win a hot war waged against *every other nation on earth * allied against us. Some posters said yes, some said no. Many intriguing facts, scenerios and speculations were contributed to the discussion. It was so fascinating I emailed it to all my friends. Someone should dig it out and link it here. (I’d do it myself, but I’m in a rush out of here.)
I knew someday I’d “arrive”, and someone would quote me in a sig line. I feel so…institutionalized.
Do you know how difficult it is to get 5.7 people to agree on ANYTHING?
My personal hope ia that we won’t need a foreign military power to drive Bush into hiding and arrest him. Our own military is perfectly adequate for the job.
As much as many of us dislike Bush, I’m thinking that even if we were invaded most people would defend the US and our president to the death, myself included. Even if he is kind of a putz. 
My thoughts exactly. It’s kind of like, “I’m allowed to beat up my little brother, but if you beat up my little brother, I’m going to kick your ass.”
Family sticks together.