I agree they would have to invade, but going by what I was saying, they would get another country to do the nitty gritty. So the role US would play is supply, train, support, co-ordinate, plus massive aireal bombardment. The chosen (most likey its own people who created a seperatitst state for example) or another country will send ground forces.
Right, but even with a massive aerial bombardment by the US, there needs to be ground troops. Whether its US troops or not, the invasion would fail.
First, the air strikes:
You have to remember that during Vietnam, all the US Air Force generals said that their bombers would wipe out the Viet Cong, without the need for any ground forces. Of course this wasn’t the case and after 50,000+ dead amerikan troops, we still couldn’t wipe them out.
The same attitude existed before the Iraq war. US Air Force Generals said that air power was all that was needed to subdue any resistance in Iraq. They claimed that the attack in the spring of 2003 would begin with Operation Shock and Awe, and victory would be swift and total immediately following. We see how well that went.
History shows us time and time again that air power doesn't win wars, or even battles. Even in Germany in WWII the Americans and the British were to bomb the hell out of Germany and to kill a million Germans and paralyze their industrial production. Yes, the Allies' bombs killed many Germans, not a million, but war production actually increased and the bombs strengthened German morale and hatred of the enemy.
Even currently in Lebanon, Israel has the same mentality of the generals of the past, holding the belief that bombing is all that it necessary to subdue their enemy. However all it is doing is efficiently uniting all Lebanese in hating Israel, while being an effective propagandist for Hezbollah.
Next, the ground troops:
Whether it’s US or foreign troops, there is no way a successful invasion could occur. Venezuela is home of a wide variety of landscapes; you’ve got the Andes mountains in the northwest, the Guiana Highlands in the south, and northern Amazon Basin, which is very dense rainforest.
The Venezuelan military consists of anywhere from 100,000-200,000 individuals, plus as I mentioned before there are armed militias throughout that country that has been estimated over two million strong, and the people are strapped (1 in 3 Venezuelan’s own a gun, in addition, the government has been arming these militias as well).
Much like Vietnam, Venezuela has an advanced underground tunnel system specifically designed for an invasion. This was vital for the Vietnamese and is one of the main reasons the US could not win the war.
They also have been buying fighter jets, helicopters, 100,000+ AK’s from Russia, boats, missiles, and other weaponry. After the last of the 100,000 AK’s are sent from Russia, Russia plans to build several factories in Venezuela so they can start producing their own AK’s.
An invasion from any country would only unite the Venezuelan people even more and would draw support and soldiers/guerilla fighters from neighboring countries Brazil and Columbia, as well as from all over Latin America. The people love Chavez all throughout L.A.
They were bombed into submission, Milosovic gave up after seeing what US can do from the air, he did a good thing and spared his people alot of death.
The Croatian War was not simply ended because of US air strikes. It was a combination of events, including massive ground attacks (See Croatia's Operation Storm) that led to the end of the war.
Not if Russia is going to start supplying them (as they have been), that would really make things alot harder. However if there was a war and US & Russia were both supplying opposite countries, I know whos side I'd wanna be on.
Who’s side?
All of this is hypothetical of course, my only point is to demonstrate that an invasion wouldn't be a cake walk.