The skanner., June 29, 2011, Page 9, Image 9

news
Accused Seattle Attackers Wanted Media Attention
gene Johnson
the associated Press
SEattlE (AP) — Two ex-convicts
planned an attack on a Seattle military
recruiting station hoping that it would get
attention from the media, authorities say,
and even imagined the headlines: “Three
Muslim Males Walk Into MEPS Building,
Seattle, Washington, And Gun Down
Everybody.”
Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, also known as
Joseph Anthony Davis, 33, of Seattle, was
arrested Wednesday when he and another
man showed up at a warehouse garage to
pick up machine guns they planned to use in
the attack, authorities said Thursday. The
weapons had been rendered inoperable by
federal agents and posed no risk to the pub-
lic.
Authorities learned of the plot this month
when a third person recruited to participate
alerted Seattle police, according to court
documents. Agents then set up the sting
through the confidential informant, who had
known Abdul-Latif for years.
Abdul-Latif had little knowledge of
weapons, but served briefly in the Navy in
the mid-1990s and was familiar with
recruiting stations like the one they target-
ed, a criminal complaint said. The U.S.
Attorney’s Office in Seattle said he and his
alleged accomplice, Walli Mujahidh,
planned to attack Joint Base Lewis-
McChord but later changed targets.
“If we can get control of the building and
we can hold it for a while, then we’ll get the
local news down there, the media down
there, you know what I’m saying,” Abdul-
Latif was quoted in a court document as
saying. “It’s a confined space, not a lot of
people carrying weapons, and we’d have an
advantage.”
Mujahidh pictured the headline - “Three
Muslim Males Walk Into MEPS Building,
attacks against those
Seattle, Washington, And
facilities.
Gun Down Everybody” -
Abdul-Latif
and
according to the court docu-
Mujahidh face federal
ment. Authorities said the
charges of conspiracy to
two planned to use machine
murder officers and
guns and grenades in the
employees
of
the
attack. In audio and video
United States, conspira-
recordings, they discussed
cy to use a weapon of
the plot, including strategies
mass destruction, and
to time their attack on mili-
possession of firearms
tary recruits, such as by toss-
in furtherance of crimes
ing grenades in the cafeteria,
of violence. Abdul-Latif
the complaint said.
was also charged with
The attack would not target
Mujahidh Walli
two counts of illegal
“anybody innocent - that
means old people, women out of uniform, possession of firearms.
“The complaint alleges these men intend-
any children,” Abdul-Latif allegedly said.
“Just people who wear the green for the kaf- ed to carry out a deadly attack against our
military where they should be most safe,
fir army, that’s who we’re going after.”
Abdul-Latif was recorded in conversa- here at home,” U.S. Attorney Jenny A.
tions with the informant where he spoke Durkan, of Seattle, said in a statement.
admiringly of the 2009 massacre at Fort “This is a sobering reminder of our need to
Hood, Texas, that claimed 13 lives. He be vigilant.”
Abdul-Latif was previously convicted for
referred to war crimes charges against five
soldiers accused of killing Afghan civilians robbing a Bremerton, Wash., convenience
for sport last year, saying “he was not com- store and for custodial assault, as well as for
fortable with letting the legal system deal obstructing a law enforcement officer,
with these matters,” according to an FBI assault and theft. When he faced the robbery
agent’s affidavit filed in U.S. District Court. charge in 2002, he was found to have some
Mujahidh confessed after the arrest, say- “issues” during a psychological evaluation
ing the attack was aimed at preventing the but allowed to stand trial, FBI Special
U.S. military “from going to Islamic lands Agent Albert C. Kelly III wrote in the com-
and killing Muslims,” court documents plaint.
A copy of the evaluation showed that
said. He is also known as Frederick
Abdul-Latif believed he suffered from
Domingue Jr., 32, of Los Angeles.
Court-appointed lawyers for the men depression and abandonment issues,
because his father served time in prison in
declined to comment.
The arrests and news of the plot come California and he had not seen his mother in
after a May 31 assessment from the a long time. He also said he “huffed” gaso-
Homeland Security Department that said
coordinated terrorist attacks against military
recruiting and National Guard facilities
were unlikely. But it warned that lone
offenders or groups would try to launch
line and smoked marijuana to get high, and
that he tried to kill himself in 2001 by delib-
erately overdosing on seizure medication.
He served prison time on the robbery
charge from January 2002 until July 2004.
State Corrections Department spokesman
Chad Lewis said “nothing in Davis’ records
that indicates that he converted to Islam
while he was in prison.”
A sign on the door of Abdul-Latif’s apart-
ment read in part: “In the Name of Allah we
enter, in the name of Allah we leave, and
upon our Lord we depend.”
It wasn’t immediately clear how the sus-
pects became acquainted, though Mujahidh
formerly lived in Seattle. He was convicted
in municipal court of violating a domestic
violence protection order stemming from a
2007 incident.
Abdul-Latif filed for bankruptcy last
month, reporting that his monthly income
from his janitorial business was nullified by
its operating expenses. Steve Dashiak, his
bankruptcy attorney, told The Associated
Press he was stunned by the charges.
“I sensed no ill will from him whatsoev-
er,” Dashiak said. “He seemed like a guy
just trying to make it, having a rough time
because business wasn’t going very well. To
say that I didn’t see this coming would be
an understatement.”
associated Press counterterrorism
reporter eileen Sullivan contributed from
washington, D.C., writer Mike Baker con-
tributed from olympia, wash., and writer
Manuel Valdes contributed from Seattle.
June 29, 2011 The Portland Skanner Page 9