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Former Cat Stevens on U.S. Watch List, Plane Diverted

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by thacabbage, Sep 21, 2004.

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  1. thacabbage

    thacabbage Contributing Member

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    http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040921_2381.html

    The Former Cat Stevens Gets Plane Diverted
    Flight Diverted After Yusuf Islam, Aka Cat Stevens, Found to Be on U.S. Watch List

    The Associated Press


    WASHINGTON Sept. 21, 2004 — A London-to-Washington flight was diverted to Maine on Tuesday when it was discovered passenger Yusuf Islam formerly known as singer Cat Stevens was on a government watch list and barred from entering the country, federal officials said.

    United Airlines Flight 919 was en route to Dulles International Airport when the match was made between a passenger and a name on the watch list, said Nico Melendez, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration. The plane was met by federal agents at Maine's Bangor International Airport around 3 p.m., Melendez said.

    Homeland Security Department spokesman Dennis Murphy identified the passenger as Islam. "He was interviewed and denied admission to the United States on national security grounds," Murphy said, and would be put on the first available flight out of the country Wednesday.

    Officials had no details about why the peace activist might be considered a risk to the United States. Islam had visited New York in May to promote a DVD of his 1976 MajiKat tour.

    One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Islam, 56, was identified by the Advanced Passenger Information System, which requires airlines to send passenger information to Customs and Border Protection's National Targeting Center. The Transportation Security Administration then was contacted and requested that the plane land at the nearest airport, that official said.

    Melendez said Islam was questioned by FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

    Another federal official, who is in law enforcement and spoke anonymously because of agency policy, said that after the interview, Customs officials decided to deny Islam entry into the United States.

    Flight 919 eventually continued on to Dulles after Islam was removed from the flight.

    Islam, who was born Stephen Georgiou, took Cat Stevens as a stage name and had a string of hits in the 1960s and '70s, including "Wild World" and "Morning Has Broken." Last year he released two songs, including a re-recording of his '70s hit "Peace Train," to express his opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

    He abandoned his music career in the late 1970s and changed his name after being persuaded by orthodox Muslim teachers that his lifestyle was forbidden by Islamic law. He later became a teacher and an advocate for his religion, founding a Muslim school in London in 1983.

    Islam drew some negative attention in the late 1980s when he supported the Ayatollah Khomeini's death sentence against Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses." Recently, though, Islam has criticized terrorist acts, including the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the school seizure in Beslan, Russia, earlier this month that left more than 300 dead, nearly half of them children.

    In a statement on his Web site, he wrote, "Crimes against innocent bystanders taken hostage in any circumstance have no foundation whatsoever in the life of Islam and the model example of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him."

    After the Sept. 11 attacks, Islam issued a statement saying: "No right thinking follower of Islam could possibly condone such an action: The Quran equates the murder of one innocent person with the murder of the whole of humanity."
     
    #1 thacabbage, Sep 21, 2004
  2. Batman Jones

    Batman Jones Member

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    When Cat Stevens is not allowed into America, things have gone horribly wrong. This is the craziest thing I have heard this entire year. Bar none.
     
    #2 Batman Jones, Sep 22, 2004
  3. AroundTheWorld

    AroundTheWorld Member

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    Crazier than people getting their head cut off?
     
    #3 AroundTheWorld, Sep 22, 2004
  4. wizkid83

    wizkid83 Member

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    Yes because U.S. stands for something better than that. You'd expect dangers like that if you are going to go to the middle east, Cat Stevens considered are security threat isn't something that this country suppose to stand for until recently.
     
    #4 wizkid83, Sep 22, 2004
  5. Batman Jones

    Batman Jones Member

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    Yes. We all know senseless violence exists. And we all know that terrorists make their name by murder and torture. But a folk singer who's famous for his peaceful leanings getting banned from the US on account of national security is something new. And yeah, it's pretty crazy.
     
    #5 Batman Jones, Sep 22, 2004
  6. AroundTheWorld

    AroundTheWorld Member

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    I don't know why his name was on the watchlist. At first sight, it seems pretty absurd.

    But still, I would think that it is a sad state of affairs if someone is already so used to beheadings that he finds it crazier that a plane gets diverted (ultimately, no physical damage done to anyone) than someone getting their head cut off in front of a camera.

    Just because something horrible has been going on for a while, it is not less crazy than something stupid that is perhaps done out of a certain sort of hysteria, but that doesn't end in physical harm.
     
    #6 AroundTheWorld, Sep 22, 2004
  7. Batman Jones

    Batman Jones Member

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    Dude. Cat. Stevens. Is. On. A. National. Security. Watch. List. Next James Taylor will be arrested for conspiracy to throw grenades at a football game. I didn't say it was worse -- I said it was crazier.
     
    #7 Batman Jones, Sep 22, 2004
  8. AroundTheWorld

    AroundTheWorld Member

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    And it isn't...

    ...even though I agree that it is indeed laughable.
     
    #8 AroundTheWorld, Sep 22, 2004
  9. IROC it

    IROC it Member

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    Calloused much?
     
    #9 IROC it, Sep 22, 2004
  10. rimbaud

    rimbaud Member
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    Well, there is that Sweedish professor of Islamic sudies and philosophy, considered one of the best in the field, that was hired by Notre Dame. ND set up his visa, he bought a house, enrolled his children in school, etc. I believe all of this started a year or so ago. Then a day or two before he was to fly over the Dept. of Homeland Security denied his visa, citing a provision of denying those who support terrorism.

    He is supposedly an Islamic moderate and has written against terrorism, but apparently a few decades ago he wrote something saying Islam would be the last religion. I can't remember all of the details.
     
    #10 rimbaud, Sep 22, 2004
  11. AroundTheWorld

    AroundTheWorld Member

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    I don't know if he has the Swedish citizenship, but he is Arabic, I think. He lives in Switzerland right now. I read a very reasonably sounding article from him in a German magazine last week.

    Obviously, there is a conflict between the goals of providing a maximum level of security on the one hand and making sure that one does not go back to the dark ages of McCarthyism on the other hand...
     
    #11 AroundTheWorld, Sep 22, 2004
  12. RocketMan Tex

    RocketMan Tex Member

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    Maybe John Ashcroft thought Cat Stevens was hellbound to hit him upside his pointy little head with an acoustic guitar!:eek:
     
    #12 RocketMan Tex, Sep 22, 2004
  13. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

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    Batman, would you like to give us the information you have collected as to why Yusuf Islam should not be on the terror watch list?

    I'm sure al Queda would love to have a figure that is sympathetic to Americans carry out an attack. They would get reactions such as Batman's which would allow them much more lax security.

    Batman, I look forward to your answer.
     
    #13 El_Conquistador, Sep 22, 2004
  14. rimbaud

    rimbaud Member
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    Yeah, I meant that, but realize it was garbled. And you are right it is Switzerland. I, embarrassingly, mixed the two. I am not sure if he is a citizen there but his accent seems mixed.
     
    #14 rimbaud, Sep 22, 2004
  15. RocketMan Tex

    RocketMan Tex Member

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    Why not put all muslims on the terror watch list, Teej? I mean, c'mon....since we are fighting radical Islamist terrorists, it must mean all Muslims are terrorists, right? You know and I know that the President said publicly this was not a war on Islam, but he was just playing to the press, right? Lock 'em all up and nuke the rest! Impose American domination on the rest of the world! A MacDonalds on every corner in Baghdad!!!! Yeehaw!!!!! :rolleyes:
     
    #15 RocketMan Tex, Sep 22, 2004
  16. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

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    RocketmanTex:

    1) Please raise the level of your posting. That was very immature and actually set the conversation back.

    2) What information do you have the suggests that Yusuf Islam should not be on the terror watch list? Is that information superior to the government's information?
     
    #16 El_Conquistador, Sep 22, 2004
  17. kpsta

    kpsta Member

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    #17 kpsta, Sep 22, 2004
  18. RocketMan Tex

    RocketMan Tex Member

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    Gee whizzers Teej, what information do YOU or ASHCROFT have the suggests that Yusuf Islam SHOULD be on the terror watch list?

    Two can play the finger pointing game. All you need is a finger.

    :rolleyes:
     
    #18 RocketMan Tex, Sep 22, 2004
  19. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

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    So in other words, you have no information. Thanks. I think I'll go with the Homeland Security Department's opinion over yours.
     
    #19 El_Conquistador, Sep 22, 2004
  20. RocketMan Tex

    RocketMan Tex Member

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    You do that, Teej. Have a wonderful time living in fear.
     
    #20 RocketMan Tex, Sep 22, 2004
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