Report: 60 Afghan and Iraqi terrorists planned to attack Fort Huachuca? Update: Fort vulnerable?
posted at 12:55 pm on November 26, 2007 by Allahpundit
After infiltrating the United States through the Mexican border, of course. Seems thin, but still thick enough to get the attention of the FBI, CIA, DIA and Border Patrol. Tancredo 1, Levy 0.
Fort Huachuca, the nation’s largest intelligence-training center, changed security measures in May after being warned that Islamist terrorists, with the aid of Mexican drug cartels, were planning an attack on the facility.
Fort officials changed security measures after sources warned that possibly 60 Afghan and Iraqi terrorists were to be smuggled into the U.S. through underground tunnels with high-powered weapons to attack the Arizona Army base, according to multiple confidential law enforcement documents obtained by The Washington Times…
According to the FBI advisory, each Middle Easterner paid Mexican drug lords $20,000 “or the equivalent in weapons” for the cartel’s assistance in smuggling them and their weapons through tunnels along the border into the U.S…
According to the source who spoke with DEA intelligence agents, the weapons included two Milan anti-tank missiles, Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles, grenade launchers, long guns and handguns.
“FBI Comment: The surface-to-air missiles may in fact be RPGs,” the advisory stated, adding that the weapons stash in Mexico could include two or three more Milan missiles.
Supposedly some of the jihadis are already here and in a safe house in Texas. DHS calls the secondary source credible but “none of the information provided by the sub-source in the past has been corroborated.” In fact, the DEA suspects that this is one cartel’s attempt to get the U.S. to crack down on another cartel by tying it to a phantom terror plot.
Riddle me this: Why would 60 terrorists, having successfully infiltrated and armed themselves to the teeth with high explosives, waste their efforts in an assault on a fort? Even a juicy target like the intel center at Huachuca isn’t going to suffer much damage before troops stationed at the base put down the attack. With 60 guys you could fan out and send teams of 10 to hit Phoenix, Vegas, Albuquerque, Houston, etc etc. Why waste a cell like that on such a futile attack? Better yet, why send so many guys in the first place? The bigger the crew, the more likely that someone will talk or some lead will be picked up and the whole thing will unravel. If they’re intent on a symbolic attack on the base, 10-20 guys would be smarter.
Also, don’t the national identities here seem a tad convenient? The 9/11 hijackers were from all over the region. The car-bomb plotters this summer were from different countries too, as were the airline plot bombers last year. It’s rare, especially for a huge cell like this, that it would be so limited by nationality. Sounds more to me like a tall tale cooked up by a guy who doesn’t know much about terrorism but does know which countries the U.S. invaded.
Update: I imported a few comments from yesterday’s headline about this into the thread below.
Update: Another thing. The report was issued in May. What have our jihadi friends been up to since then? You’d think they would have gone to Plan B by now.
Update: Alas, the Foxies picked this one up and ran with it this morning.
Update: Another good point, from MB4 in the comments:
Why would Mexican drug cartels be involved in this? Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense as they are making mucho dinero now and an act like this might well tip the balance to shutting down the border along with their mucho dinero.
Update: An interesting e-mail from a reader.
I just wanted to provide some basic (public domain, unclassified) information about Ft. Huachuca to put the threats in context. I’m a former Army interrogator, and worked at Ft. Huachuca following the end of my enlistment as an instructor at the intel school. First, there are no combat arms units stationed at Ft. Huachuca. The vast majority of the personnel belong to one Signal Brigade and the intel school. This isn’t Ft. Bragg, with a few hundred soldiers carrying around live ammunition at any given time, to effectively respond to a serious attack.
Secondly, I would like to address the stories about soldiers “unable” to interdict illegals crossing the border through Huachuca. Ft. Huachuca southern edge runs along the Huachuca Mountains, which for all intents and purposes border Mexico. There are a number of crossings made along the mountains in hopes that the rough terrain will discourage active enforcement by the Border Patrol (a vain hope, but that’s tangential.) The majority of the field training sites for the base are at the base of the mountains, and as a result, occasionally trainees at the intel school, most of whom have not been in the Army for even six months, will encounter a party crossing. Since the field exercises are focused on intel training, and not combat operations, rarely will these soldiers have lethal tools available to them. Coyotes, on the other hand, frequently carry handguns and more when crossing the border. As such, these trainees are instructed prior to the exercises *not* to interdict potentially armed individuals, nor attempt to engage in law enforcement operations they are neither trained nor credentialed to carry out (please note that military forces are explicitly banned from general law enforcement activities under the Posse Comitatus Act.) Rather, they are ordered to report immediately to instructional personnel, who in turn immediately report the sighting to both Military Police and Border Patrol. Fort Huachuca is not a large installation, and such crossing parties don’t get far after being sighted by trainees.
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I read this a few days ago. Several months ago, there was a report (can’t find it now) about illegals overrunning Huachuca nightly, and the army doing little about it (it’s on the AZ/Mexico border). It’s a shame.
JiangxiDad on November 25, 2007 at 3:21 PM
there was some noise about two years ago about the soldiers on huachuca being not allowed to run down, capture, terminate, you name it, foriegn nationals within the station.
probably a mix of liberal congressional political pressure and that law that stops the military from doing military things inside of the united states.
this is not new at all.
C
pk on November 25, 2007 at 3:51 PM
I was there for 4 months in ’89 doing AIT, it’s not quite on the border but darn close. If I remeber correctly the Coranado National Forrest is between the base and the boarder.
mrfixit on November 25, 2007 at 3:52 PM
And, there is a whole lot of empty space on and around the base…. lots of places to hide :/
mrfixit on November 25, 2007 at 3:54 PM
I’m sure the base is ready for anything at this point. Grind up the evil doers and leave the remains for the giant buzzard feed on.
Zorro on November 25, 2007 at 4:10 PM
Actually the law prevents the military from acting as law enforcement within the USA.
Of course, foreign nationals entering the country illegally, or entering a military base, should not really be a law enforcement issue as such, and the use of the military would be appropriate in a “defend the sovereignty of the USA” capacity.
Of course in a more and more PC-world, soldiers gunning down poor, hungry, looking-for-work brown people would be bad press (the media would make sure of that).
Neo on November 25, 2007 at 4:18 PM
Mexican drug cartels. Wow. Imagine that. Hey, I have an idea … let’s build a freakin’ WALL!
Tony737 on November 25, 2007 at 4:25 PM
Not quite. As a former Military Policeman I can tell you that the D-cell was just as comfortable to civilians and military personnel. Granted they would be turned over to the local PD after apprehension but nothing stops the Military Police from apprehending civilian wrong doers as long as it is on a military installation.
Limerick on November 25, 2007 at 4:39 PM
True but Neo has a point in that you can not detain people when they are not on the base.
Quite a few times he had dependents taking a Space-A flight land at LAFB. One of the first things they would do is whip out their cameras and start taking pictures of the “pretty airplanes”
A couple of times they managed to walk past the “Use of Deadly Force Authorized” sign for a closer view.
Needless to say…they were eating flightline and any film was seized by the SP’s.
The problem is that the Military police can not act until they are on the base, until that time it is up to the local police to stop them.
Fort Huachuca is very close to the Mexican border, (The first MM project was set up very near Fort Huachuca) illegals tend to wonder around (after coming down the mountains) and end up on the base by accident.
F15Mech on November 25, 2007 at 6:25 PM
Hell a terrorist with some training and a good sniper rifle would probably be able to fire into Ft Huachuca from the mountains outside the base.
F15Mech on November 25, 2007 at 6:33 PM
Any idiot with half a brain could get onto just about any military base.
gator70 on November 25, 2007 at 11:13 PM
what you do is to set up the perimeter fence about a half mile inside of the actual property line. then if the illegals/demonstrators/whackos come up to the gate they’re already on govt property and fair game for arrest, incarceration, federal rather than state charges.
worked quite well where i worked.
C
pk on November 26, 2007 at 2:40 AM
Might be nice if some webgeek could modify the comment system/article system to retain comments as articles move from the Headlines section to The Blog section.
Just a thought.
Neo on November 26, 2007 at 12:57 PM
One theory being floated is to disable or distract the intelligence network within the US for another purpose.
desertdweller on November 26, 2007 at 12:59 PM
Man this is so implausible it sounds like a debka story.
liberrocky on November 26, 2007 at 1:01 PM
Yeah, I wouldn’t even have blogged it if not for the DEA/DHS attention.
Allahpundit on November 26, 2007 at 1:03 PM
What border security? You don’t need no stinking border security! You stinking people are discriminating against our right to smuggle dope and terrorist into your stinking country! Death to all stinking imperialist pigs!
leanright on November 26, 2007 at 1:06 PM
Or maybe there is something seriously afoot in Afghanistan/Pakistan that involves the intelligence guru’s at Fort Huachuca that really has the Taliban worried?
doriangrey on November 26, 2007 at 1:08 PM
Up to 60 guys? Send small teams all over the country… Christmas is coming… hit the malls…
Check out “The Teeth Of The Tiger” by Tom Clancy…
After all, a plotline of his inspired/mirrored an earlier terrorist attack.
Frozen Tex on November 26, 2007 at 1:11 PM
If we don’t have an agency that is out picking up members of the Mexican cartels and just getting the information straight from them, then we’ve got some really big problems, here … This is, if true, a blatant and clear act of war against the US.
progressoverpeace on November 26, 2007 at 1:14 PM
So are they saying there is an illegal Mexican under every Islamic beard, or are these just terrorists willing to do the work that Americans refuse to do?
These are simply poor, unregistered, non-Americans.
Hening on November 26, 2007 at 1:15 PM
Why would Mexican drug cartels be involved in this?
Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense as they are making
mucho dinero now and an act like this might well tip the balance to shutting down the border along with their
mucho dinero.
MB4 on November 26, 2007 at 1:16 PM
Good point.
Allahpundit on November 26, 2007 at 1:19 PM
Smuggled in arms is another red flag…why would they? The cartel people here could get them anything they want.
The Debka analogy seems about right to me. Rumor=newsflash…DEA/FBI is going to check up on it even if they think it was bogus in a CYA move.
Limerick on November 26, 2007 at 1:22 PM
anything they want here.
Limerick on November 26, 2007 at 1:22 PM
… and the anti-tank missiles could be giant pointy rocks.
Bring it on. Our troops are waiting.
fogw on November 26, 2007 at 1:24 PM
Two-four fire mission.
Battery adjust.
MB4 on November 26, 2007 at 1:26 PM
The plan itself is plausible, what is not plausible is the details provided in this account. 60 terrorists from Iraq and Afghanistan?? C’mon like AP pointed even the terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan have a more diverse makeup. This is too close to telling the folks what they want to hear. I don’t mean to downplay the information but the details are just too convienent.
If they said groups of 5 to 10 smuggle across at various times that now total 60 I could give it more credence. Besides why go through all of the trouble of going through Mexico and paying smugglers when all I need to do is go to Saudi Arabia, get a student visa, hop on an airplane and come in through any airport I want. Having the weapons smuggled in through Mexico makes more sense and allows the terrorists a layer of deniability.
LakeRuins on November 26, 2007 at 1:26 PM
Yes, but so are our imbecilic liberals, the difference is the libs are waiting with open arms…the troops are waiting with loaded arms…
doriangrey on November 26, 2007 at 1:27 PM
For the military challenged. Troops stationed stateside do not have easy access to weapons and ammunition, except for the MP’s. Weapons are stored in an arms room, normally in the units main area, and the ammo is stored in bunkers out in the south forty. There may be a quick reaction force handy but not in sufficent numbers to repel an attack from 60 armed attackers.
Forget Hollywood. Troops do not go around with loaded weapons 24/7.
LakeRuins on November 26, 2007 at 1:31 PM
Even in RVN most troops, when on base, most of the time, were not armed.
MB4 on November 26, 2007 at 1:34 PM
End of the article:
Unless and until some of these guys are actually arrested, I think that’s the most likely explanation.
now, if this were real, I can see smuggling the heavy weaponry in instead of buying it, though. I don’t think there are a lot of American arms dealers ready to deliver off-the-books RPG’s to dodgy Afghanis and Iraqis. There’s a fair amount of weapons traffic going south, but probably not as much as the media likes to tell you. I suspect a lot of it comes from other former communist (or currently communist) sources.
see-dubya on November 26, 2007 at 1:35 PM
As for Iraqis arriving in the Western Hemisphere en route to America: That happens, yep.
see-dubya on November 26, 2007 at 1:45 PM
Yep, I agree with MB4, this just don’t add up. I guess I could see the rival cartel deal. And I have no doubt that jihadis are here, it’s just too easy to get here. But this plan seems a bit weak, and stupid.
conservnut on November 26, 2007 at 1:47 PM
I have three words for ya: SHOOT. TO. KILL.
Tony737 on November 26, 2007 at 1:50 PM
I was stationed in Huachuca back in 01. All anyone would have to do is walk on the base. We had people come in to work all the time and tell stories about illegals running right through their backyards. There were also a couple of times that I can remember when soldiers out on training exercises would run across a bands of illegals camping out. Huachuca would probably be one of the softest targets in the whole military to hit.
HOWEVER, I agree with Allahpundit that this sounds a little far-fetched. It sounds too much like the crazy stories the Iraqis tell.
Carefull, at midnight tonight 107.5 Iraqi ninjas in black clothes will attack the compound with laser guns and 25 T-90 tanks! Their goal is the capture of that product you call, “deodorant”, from your PX.
matthewbit07 on November 26, 2007 at 1:53 PM
Flashback–remember when Osama conspired with Colombian cartels to ship poisoned cocaine to the US?
Yeah, I don’t think that happened, either.
see-dubya on November 26, 2007 at 1:55 PM
SHHHH!
Military plates/bumper stickers keep pinheads who don’t know this from acting stupid with me in traffic.
baldilocks on November 26, 2007 at 2:10 PM
I dunno, does cartel drug money even come close to Saudi oil money?
Still, I’m sure there is a shred of thruth in there somewhere. Maybe 6 guys with handguns were smuggled across by a guy who knows a guy, who has a brother in a drug cartel. Maybe there is drug-runner startup that is looking for new capital/weapons, although 1.2 million seems a bit low.
It’s probably unlikely, unless there have been some conversions to Islam. Maybe the Islamists are teaching the drug scum some new terror tactics, new ways to carry out beheadings.
Either that, or they think that we are just so weak (politically) on the border issue that even something like this won’t put a dent in their trade.
reaganaut on November 26, 2007 at 2:11 PM
Probably taking Engineering classes at the University of South Florida.
there it is on November 26, 2007 at 2:16 PM
Hmmmm Could 60 people sneak across the border? Yeah I can buy that. Could those 60 people also carry high explosives and weapons? Yeah, I can easily belive that too.
Would those 60 people want to attack an American Military/Intelligence training facility? Yeah, Seeing as how a few cought bad guys planned an attack in Jersey.
Recently, a local TV station up here in New England documented an investigator carrying nuclear material back and forth across the border many many times.
dogsoldier on November 26, 2007 at 3:39 PM
Pure symbolism.
Attacking an American military base on American soil would be an enormous propaganda victory. Or at least they would think so. And it probably would be perceived that way amongst Al-Queda’s target recruiting population.
This hypothetical attack strikes me as representing exactly the way these people think.
You’re applying logic and reason to the illogical and irrational. To them, symbolism always matters more than results.
If they cared about results, a couple dozen Beslan-style school shootings all on the same day would be effective and relatively easy to accomplish.
But they’ll never do it. It’s all about the symbols. Just like the Pentagon and WTC.
God help us if they ever start thinking as clearly as you, and start prioritizing actual results.
Professor Blather on November 26, 2007 at 3:54 PM
Good book. And when I read it, I wondered why terrorists never did exactly what Clancy suggested. (Of course, in an earlier novel he also suggested flying planes into buildings …)
But I think it goes back to my last post: such attacks don’t appeal to the fanatical need for symbolism. It’s not enough to create mass death or chaos. It has to be symbolic. Spectacularly symbolic.
It has to mean something to them. Attacking the Galleria or Joe’s Crab Shack just doesn’t cut it for them.
Which is a very good thing. Can you remember the weeks of the DC sniper hunt? Or the anthrax attacks? They proved just how easy it is to have massive impact, with limited risk, and only a handful of participants. A single trained sniper, operating simultaneously in a dozen major cities, could cripple our economy.
Or just one whack job with lots of anthrax and a couple rolls of stamps.
But for whatever loony reason, thinking like that just doesn’t appeal to them. Wasted attacks on the Pentagon or targeting centers of economic power … or suicide attacks on U.S. military bases … is more their speed. They haven’t figured out what they could do, if they wanted to.
Yet.
Professor Blather on November 26, 2007 at 4:06 PM
I can understand how the terrorists might get in. I was
at Fort Huachuca in ’70 and was robbed by 4 thugs in an
enlisted mans restroom for my last 5 bucks. I don’t know if they were Muslim however.
gary on November 26, 2007 at 5:49 PM
Terrorist plot after terrorist plot against our forts has failed. Why do terrorists continue plotting against a hard target like a military base instead of attacking an easier target such as a mall?
SoulGlo on November 26, 2007 at 7:31 PM
Did they have short hair and long beards? How about a CAIR T-shirt?
BadBrad on November 27, 2007 at 7:18 AM
Maybe some of the commenters are right that this is much ado about nothing, or just a disinformation thing by one drug cartel against another. However, I’m unprepared to arbitrarily dismiss any alleged plot as “too fantastic to believe”. Before 9/11, wouldn’t almost all of us have considered the 9/11 attacks “too fantastic to believe”?
.
The bottom line is that unless and until we secure our southern border, our whole nation is exposed to greatly heightened and unnecessary risk.
DavePa on November 27, 2007 at 8:11 AM