Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, who also went by Joseph Anthony Davis, 33, of Seattle (pictured above), and Walli Mujahidh, also known as Frederick Domingue, Jr., 32, of Los Angeles, will face terrorism and firearms charges for the suspected plot.
Officials said Abdul-Latif and Mujahidh bought machine guns, intending to shoot men and women enlisting in the armed forces at the Military Entrance Processing Station on East Marginal Way (MEPS).
However, law enforcement said Thursday neither of men knew the guns they purchased were inoperable, posing no public safety risk. Grenades were to also be used, officials said.
According to Justice Department officials, the attack was initially planned for Joint Base Lewis-McChord, but the two men later decided on MEPS as the target.Law enforcement stated they have known about the plot for some time, and have been monitoring Abdul-Latif and Mujahidh in the meantime, keeping tabs on their activity
Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif and Walli Mujahidh, both Muslim converts, harbored grandiose plans for an attack on a military recruitment station in Seattle and said if a single gunman at Fort Hood could kill 13 people, three gunmen could kill many more, according to the criminal complaint.
Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, 33, of Seattle, also known as Joseph Anthony Davis, which granted him the nick name “Jihad-Joe”, is married and owns a janitorial services company in Seattle, and Walli Mujahidh, 32, of Los Angeles, also known as Frederick Domingue Jr..
The men spoke about gaining access to the facility by driving a "truck that looks like the Titanic" through the "front gate," the complaint says, and Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif told the source his objective was to "take out anybody wearing green or a badge." “Imagine how many young Muslims, if we’re successful, will try to hit these kinds of centers,” said Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, according to the complaint. “Imagine how fearful America will be, and they’ll know they can’t push Muslims around.”
An FBI agent wrote in the complaint that the pair fantasized about the headlines the attack would generate -- "Three Muslim Males Walk Into MEPS Building, Seattle, Washington, And Gun Down Everybody" -- and speculated that if they got control of the building, TV news crews would arrive to cover them. Walli Mujahidh spoke with investigators after the arrests and confessed, the complaint said.
Since the men lived far apart, they had conversations over the phone about how the attack should be carried out and also spoke about ways to train with the firearms beforehand, according to the compliant, obtained by FoxNews.com.
The complaint shows that on 06/14/2011, Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif met with the FBI source, asked the source to obtain machine guns and grenades for the attack and, days later, paid the source $800 cash for the weapons.
Days later, Walli Mujahidh, who lived in Seattle four years ago before moving to California, is said to have taken a bus from Los Angeles to Seattle and met with the Abdul-Latif and the source to discuss details of the attack. They allegedly talked about using machine guns and grenades.
Joseph Anthony Davis - Abdul-Latif has previous felony convictions for first-degree robbery and custodial assault, as well as misdemeanor convictions for obstructing a law enforcement officer, assault and theft. When Joseph Anthony Davis was prosecuted on the robbery charge in Kitsap County, Washington, in 2002, he was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation, and despite some "issues," he was found competent to participate in his defense, the FBI agent wrote. Joseph Anthony Davis was sentenced to 31 months in prison on that charge. Frederick Domingue Jr. - Walli Mujahidh got acquainted with Joseph Anthony Davis Latif while incarcerated in Seattle in early 2007. Bothe, then, converted to Islam and adopted their Islamic names Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif for Joseph Anthony Davis and Walli Mujahidh for Frederick Domingue Jr.
Abu Khadir Abdul-Latif, 33, posted multiple comments on-line praising Awlaki, posted an Awlaki sermon on his YouTube video account, and made a YouTube video in which he blasts President Obama for authorizing the killing of Awlaki.
"Many Muslims ran to elect Barack Obama," says Abdul-Latif, dressed in camouflage. "But what has he done? He's done nothing and he made war against Islam. He's even put a hit on Anwar al Awlaki, our brother sheik, may Allah protect him."
In February, Abdul-Latif posted an ad on-line seeking a teaching job in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen: "I am looking for an opportunity to make hijrah to Yemen with the chance of having a job waiting for me to teach English to any and all ages." The word hijrah means migration or a flight to escape danger, and is used in Islam to refer to the Prophet Muhammad's flight from Mecca to Medina. Abdul-Latif's videos strayed on a range of topics — from U.S. politics to Muslim doctrine to the British royal wedding. He praises fighters in the videos, asking for blessings for those who struggle for the cause of Allah. And, at some points, he calls for action.
"We must establish jihad," Abdul-Latif said in a video posted in May. "I don't care what anybody says about that: You can turn me in to the FBI or whatever. We need to establish jihad with the tongue, with the heart and with the hand."
On the outside of Khalid Abdul-Latif`s apartment door in SeaTac is a message to visitors – “In the name of Allah we enter, in the name of Allah we leave.”In the parking lot, the American citizen’s red Honda Passport sits empty. On the passenger side, an American flag has been used as a floor mat.Abdul-Latif’s wife of six years, Binta Moussa-Davis, said he was a loving father and husband and she had no idea that he might have been planning an attack. “No idea, no idea … He is good Muslim, perfect Muslim. He prays five times a day,” Moussa-Davis said in an interview . “He work hard to raise me and his little son.”. When told that her husband, if convicted, could be sentenced to life in prison with no parole, Moussa-Davis was clearly shocked and collapsed on the floor. Even if he’s convicted of such a crime, she said, “We’ll stay husband and wife until I pass away.”
Abdul-Latif's federal public defender, Jennifer Wellman, did not oppose the government's motion to detain him pending trial and acknowledged the security concerns the case poses. But she did object to the conditions under which her client has been able to speak with his lawyers at the Federal Detention Center south of Seattle — through a glass partition rather than in a private room — and said she wasn't sure how confidential those conversations were.
First, Abu-Khalid Abdul-Latif and Walli Mujahidh, both American converts to Islam, are prime examples of what is referred to as grassroots jihadists. They are individuals who were inspired by the al Qaeda movement but who had no known connection to the al Qaeda core or one of its franchise groups. In late 2009, in response to the success of the U.S. government and its allies in preventing jihadist attacks in the West, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) began a campaign to encourage jihadists living in the West to conduct simple attacks using readily available items, rather than travel abroad for military and terrorism training with jihadist groups. After successes such as the November 2009 Fort Hood shooting, this theme of encouraging grassroots attacks was adopted by the core al Qaeda group.
While the grassroots approach does present a challenge to law enforcement and intelligence agencies in that attackers can seemingly appear out of nowhere with no prior warning, the paradox presented by grassroots operatives is that they are also far less skilled than trained terrorist operatives. In other words, while they are hard to detect, they frequently lack the skill to conduct large, complex attacks and frequently make mistakes that expose them to detection in smaller plots.
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