User:Dainomite/Isa Abdullah Ali

Isa Abdullah Ali(1951 – Present), also known as Isa Ali is an African American who was the subject of the documentary film American Jihadist. He was born Cleven Raphael Holt although sometimes his first name is also spelled Clevin or Kevin. He changed his name to Isa Abdullah Ali when he converted to Islam after serving in the United States Army in Korea. Ali has fought in numerous wars alongside militant muslims across the globe; including brief participation in the Soviet war in Afghanistan, six years in the Lebanese Civil War and a year in the Bosnian War.

Early life
Ali was born in 1951 in Washington D.C.. He had a christian upbringing, being raised amongst seven siblings. In his American Jihadist he talks about being picked on in school by local gangs. In 1972 Ali dropped out of Washington's Paul Junior High in ninth grade and joined the U.S. Army at the age of 15 by providing a false birth certificate. He was stationed at Camp Casey, South Korea but was discharged from the Army after 18 months after they found out his real age. In his autobiography Ali states; "As a result of my experiences in Korea, I became a Black nationalist." Half a decade after leaving the military he converted to Islam, much to his mothers dismay.

Jihadist career
After he was discharged from the U.S. Army he left to join the Afghan mujahideen to fight the Soviets in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. After he was wounded in Afghanistan he came back to the United States and shortly thereafter ..... he left to fight in the Lebanese civil war. He fought beside the Amal movement and Hezbollah in Lebanon. In 1986 Ali was nearly assassinated in Beirut when a gunman fired multiple rounds into his abdomen but Ali killed the gunman and survived. After the alleged assassinated attempt Ali was brought back to the United States after his mother got involved with the U.S. State Department. Shortly thereafter he worked as a groundskeeper at Howard University. He left the United States in 1995 and went to Bosnia to support ethnic Muslims during the Bosnian war after seeing Radovan Karadzic call for their extermination on television. In Ali's autobiographical documentary both he and his former Bosnian commanders comment how Ali came to Bosnia armed with grenades, anti-tank rockets and other weapons despite an arms embargo of all the former-Yugolsavia that was put in place on 25 September 1991 by the United Nations Security Council's Resolution 713. In 1996 Tuzla Air Force Base was warned of Ali and a Pentagon spokesman, Lieut. Col. Arnie Owens said; "He is regarded as a potential security threat to American personnel."

After the Bosnian war Ali stayed in Bosnia, married and had children. In the American Jihadist Ali admits that he stopped counting the amount of men he's killed at 173.

American Jihadist
Ali was the subject of the Autobiographical documentary American Jihadist about w. The documetnary was featured at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature. At the 2010 Warsaw International Film Festival it was nominated for the Competition 1-2 Award but lost to Outbound.