[farlander]

Erm... attacking a hard target doesn’t make sense from a terrorist point of view. It’s certainly not what I’d do. There are far more vulnerable targets with far more terror payoff. It really doesn’t make sense to have 60 operatives wasted on something that has almost no terror or PR value, and that would cause an immediate effect of shutting off most of their infiltration routes.

[SwankyC]

Ft Huachuca is hardly a hard target. It’s an intel base and is spread all over the desert floor. It would take 5 minutes and a pair of wire cutters to get onto this base.

[rellimpank]

—you are one of the few sensible voices on the several threads on this-—

[Deguello]

Maybe they have been watching too much TV and think the base is the equivalent to 24’s CTU.

[cripplecreek]

It really doesn’t make sense to have 60 operatives wasted on something that has almost no terror or PR value, and that would cause an immediate effect of shutting off most of their infiltration routes.

19 operatives killed several thousand civilians on 9/11 and you would have expected that to be reason to cut off infiltration routes too but it hasn't.

[SIDENET]

Erm... attacking a hard target doesn’t make sense from a terrorist point of view.

I remember reading stories of illegals sneaking through base housing there. Not exactly a hard target.

[norton]

"...an immediate effect of shutting off most of their infiltration routes."

Accidentally accurate.

Read up in past FR discussions - Huachuca IS an infiltration route. The San Pedro has been reported as a virtual sewer from crossers' trash and effluvia. It isn't coincidence that so many illegal immigrant items come from the Sierra Vista newspaper.

Attacking it would amount to attacking their own freeway.

As to the other questions;
It's obviously close at hand, at the southern perimeter you are practically IN mexico.
Convenient, see 'infiltration route' above & note that there is even an infiltration course set up for training intelligence types.
It's our intelligence center, school, and a major testing ground - that's enough for bragging rights if they were to hit it. (picture headlines about attacking the people who were responsible for Abu Gharb).
There are significant radio communications assets in place as well as the people who are and will be running them in the future.
There are probably a fair number of people the terrorists consider to be traitors - nice potential headlines.
And, the town cozies right up to the gate so intentional collateral damage would be real likely.

Such a target would require a large contingent of loonies so I'm not surprised at the numbers they cite.

I've never understood why we failed to literally fortify Huachuca the first time they busted an illegal on or near federal or tribal property.

[timer]

The movie is RED DAWN, now becoming reality....