Meet the American Man Who Attempted to Join ISIS…But Failed

I’m sure you can tell from the headline that this dude is a class act. In Beirut, NBC’s Richard Engel caught up with Donald Morgan, a 44-year old American citizen who really, really wanted to be a member of ISIS.

Unfortunately for him, he didn’t get his wish.

Morgan, a former Catholic who was born in North Carolina, was described by Engel as “a former military school student, special forces aspirant, law enforcement officer and bodybuilder.” Yes, this jerk was actually a cop at one point in time. He appears to have a problem with follow-through.

Around six years ago, Morgan converted to Islam and divorced his wife (which was probably the best thing that ever happened to her). Then, earlier this year, he wandered around Lebanon for roughly six months, attempting to make his way into Syria to presumably try and impress the terror group.

“My reason for the support of ISIS is because they have proven time and time again to put Islamic law as the priority and the establishment of an Islamic state as the goal,” said Morgan. “After a considerable amount of prayer and planning everything through, I began to dissolve my effects in the U.S., personal property, items that I owned. I began to set up things that would protect those that I was leaving behind and then, after all of that, I purchased the ticket with the intent of entering to Syria, either joining up with medical and food aid convoys or directly with Islamic State.”

You’re surely thinking to yourself, why haven’t we nabbed this guy that NBC so easily had access to? Well, you’re in luck. After this interview, Morgan decided to return to the United States for some reason…and he was, in turn, arrested at JFK Airport. It was only a gun charge for unlawful possession, unfortunately (he also did some jail time in the 90’s for shooting at an occupied property). But hopefully, it will be enough to keep this scumbag locked up for at least a little while.

Still, it would be nice to know why this man wasn’t on a no-fly list. Donald Morgan may not have been focused enough to reach his goal of becoming a real-life ISIS terrorist, but we might not be quite so lucky with the next guy.