As with much in Ali’s life, his mission was misconstrued and criticized. President George H.W. Bush did not approve. “I basically believe these people are playing into the propaganda game that Iraq is holding here,” said Joseph Wilson, then the top American diplomat in Baghdad. “These people traveling to Iraq are making a serious mistake.”
/Photo AP/Muhammad Ali (center) and the 15 Americans that were rescued in Baghdad, Iraq./
Even The New York Times criticized Ali, suggesting that he was just another egomaniacal celebrity out of his depth.
“Surely the strangest hostage-release campaign of recent days has been the ‘goodwill’ tour of Muhammad Ali, the former heavyweight boxing champion . . . he has attended meeting after meeting in Baghdad despite his frequent inability to speak clearly.”
At that point, Ali was 48 years old and had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for six years.
Decades before, Ali transcended boxing to become one of the most polarizing figures in America. Shortly after demolishing champ Sonny Liston in an upset on Feb. 25, 1964, he changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali and joined the Nation of Islam. He was 22 years old, the world heavyweight champion.(Source)
Muhammad Ali also saved life of a young man from a suicide
This is the dramatic moment Muhammad Ali saved a suicidal man who was threatening to jump out of a ninth-floor window in Los Angeles in 1981.
Ali heard the man was sitting on a ledge and preparing to jump to his death so he sped towards the scene, driving the wrong way down roads with his lights flashing as he raced to make it there in time.
The champion boxer ignored the crowds calling out his name as he headed upstairs, before he was seen poking his head out of a window further along the building as he tried to convince the man that his life was worth living.
