American Jihadist

What social, economic and political environments create the mindset of a Jihadist, especially an American one?  What makes a person willing to pick up a gun for their religion?  Are the underlying causes purely religious? Or might religious militancy be a means of addressing chronic social, economic and political issues?   And what do the answers mean for the wider Islamic World?
 
American Jihadist tells the story of Isa Abdullah Ali, an African-American Muslim from the ghettos of Washington, DC. Ali turned his personal quest for justice into an international struggle:  He briefly joined the Jihad in Afghanistan against the Soviets.  He later became the only American Muslim known to have fought in Lebanon’s bloody civil war for, as he puts it, “the pleasure of God by taking a stand to help the ill treated and oppressed.”  Labeled a “known terrorist” by the U.S. Defense Department, he’s never been charged with any crimes.

In 1995, after seeing Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic proclaim on CNN that the Serbs were doing Europe a favor by eliminating Muslims, Ali found a new cause.  He briefly became a cause célèbre the following year when his face appeared on wanted posters throughout Bosnia after being labeled a "known terrorist" by the Pentagon.  He later turned himself in and was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Featuring interviews with leading experts in counter-terrorism, psychology and academia, as well as Muslim radicals and Ali’s own family, American Jihadist attempts to uncover the underlying causes of radical religious extremism.  West Coast Premiere.

In Person: Mark Claywell Director