Former Cat Stevens Plane Is Diverted
Muslim Convert's Name on Watch List
By LESLIE MILLER, AP
AP
Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens
WASHINGTON (Sept. 22) - 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.''
And why was this guy not permitted entry into the United States? Last I checked, having a political opinion didn't warrant someone being black listed against entering the country.
The Kernel wrote:And why was this guy not permitted entry into the United States? Last I checked, having a political opinion didn't warrant someone being black listed against entering the country.
Because his name is on the watch list. Since he legally changed his name to "Yusuf Islam", that frankly is not improbable at all that some card-carrying member of al-Qaeda could have the same name he does. I'm sure it will be rectified, but if it was only discovered once the aircraft was in the air they had to be safe about it. The plane was heading to Washington, after all.
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. -- Wikipedia's No Original Research policy page.
The Kernel wrote:And why was this guy not permitted entry into the United States? Last I checked, having a political opinion didn't warrant someone being black listed against entering the country.
Because his name is on the watch list. Since he legally changed his name to "Yusuf Islam", that frankly is not improbable at all that some card-carrying member of al-Qaeda could have the same name he does. I'm sure it will be rectified, but if it was only discovered once the aircraft was in the air they had to be safe about it. The plane was heading to Washington, after all.
Well if it's a mistake, it makes me wonder what happens to the people who aren't celebrities who get mistakenly put on the watch list and then are forbidden from entering the US for life. If it's not, then someone has some explaining to do.
The Kernel wrote:And why was this guy not permitted entry into the United States? Last I checked, having a political opinion didn't warrant someone being black listed against entering the country.
Because his name is on the watch list. Since he legally changed his name to "Yusuf Islam", that frankly is not improbable at all that some card-carrying member of al-Qaeda could have the same name he does. I'm sure it will be rectified, but if it was only discovered once the aircraft was in the air they had to be safe about it. The plane was heading to Washington, after all.
Well if it's a mistake, it makes me wonder what happens to the people who aren't celebrities who get mistakenly put on the watch list and then are forbidden from entering the US for life. If it's not, then someone has some explaining to do.
In the past he has spoken in favour of extremist Islamic actions, for example he approved of the Fatwa against Salman rushdie. Purhaps this is why he is on the watch list?
Hokalus wrote:
In the past he has spoken in favour of extremist Islamic actions, for example he approved of the Fatwa against Salman rushdie. Purhaps this is why he is on the watch list?
I have no doubt that this is why he is on the list, my question is, is this a proper justification for forbidding him entry to the US and keeping him on a terrorist watch list? You know how many Muslims living in the US would openly admit to wanting Salman Rushdie dead?
Col. Crackpot wrote:well i guess you could say he's seen a lot of what the world can do, and it's breaking his heart in two.
He wants to sing out, but he can't sing out. And he wants to be free, but he can't be free.
BoTM / JL / MM / HAB / VRWC / Horseman
I'm studying for the CPA exam. Have a nice summer, and if you're down just sit back and realize that Joe is off somewhere, doing much worse than you are.
The Islam formerly known as Cat Stevens wrote:"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.''
The problem isn't the Qur'an's opinion on the murder of innocent people; the problem is the Qur'an's definition of "innocent people."
Damien Sorresso
"Ever see what them computa bitchez do to numbas? It ain't natural. Numbas ain't supposed to be code, they supposed to quantify shit."
- The Onion
Hokalus wrote:
In the past he has spoken in favour of extremist Islamic actions, for example he approved of the Fatwa against Salman rushdie. Purhaps this is why he is on the watch list?
I have no doubt that this is why he is on the list, my question is, is this a proper justification for forbidding him entry to the US and keeping him on a terrorist watch list? You know how many Muslims living in the US would openly admit to wanting Salman Rushdie dead?
I believe he has also raised money for Hamas. Since he has contributed money to a terrorist organization in the past, that is an excellent reason not only to put him on a watch list, but to forbid him entry into the country.
The Islam formerly known as Cat Stevens wrote:"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.''
The problem isn't the Qur'an's opinion on the murder of innocent people; the problem is the Qur'an's definition of "innocent people."
lets see, i'll run that through my Koran translator...
ah yes "innocent people" n. 1. Devout muslims.
"This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we’ll be lucky to live through it.” -Tom Clancy
This shithole is on public record as saying the "death to the insulter of Islam" fahtwa on Salman Rushdie is moranly a good thing. He gave money to Hamas as well eh?
Plenty of good reasons to make him persona non grata in the USA.
I remeber this clearly, because a few years back, when Tom Leykis was just getting big he did a seriers of shows, and even ran over a pile of Cat Steves record with a steam roller to demonstrate his contempt. (He wanted to burn them, but the fire department said no way pal!)
Hmmmmmm.
"It is happening now, It has happened before, It will surely happen again."
Oldest member of SD.net, not most mature.
Brotherhood of the Monkey
It's alleged he gave thousands to the militant Palestinian group Hamas, and to the son of blind cleric Omar Abdel Rachman who was believed to have masterminded the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Yusuf Islam denies giving money to terrorists, and claims he thought he was donating to the poor.
Yes, only the media could say Omar "was believed", when he was convicted of bombing the WTC in '93
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
This shithole is on public record as saying the "death to the insulter of Islam" fahtwa on Salman Rushdie is moranly a good thing.
After he said that, he defended himself by saying that it was morally wrong for Muslims to take killing Rushdie into their owns hands, but that he should be executed with due process by an Islamic court instead.
BoTM / JL / MM / HAB / VRWC / Horseman
I'm studying for the CPA exam. Have a nice summer, and if you're down just sit back and realize that Joe is off somewhere, doing much worse than you are.
"Gunslinger indeed. Quick draw, Bob. Quick draw." --Count Chocula
"Unquestionably, Dr. Who is MUCH lighter in tone than WH40K. But then, I could argue the entirety of WWII was much lighter in tone than WH40K." --Broomstick
"This is ridiculous. I look like the Games Workshop version of a Jedi Knight." --Harry Dresden, Changes
"Like...are we canonical?" --Aaron Dembski-Bowden to Dan Abnett
Anglo-Indian novelist, who uses in his works tales from various genres - fantasy, mythology, religion, oral tradition. Rushdie's narrative technique has connected his books to magic realism, which includes such English-language authors as Peter Carey, Angela Carter, E.L. Doctorow, John Fowles, Mark Helprin or Emma Tennant. Salman Rushdie was condemned to death by the former Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on February 14,1989, after publishing SATANIC VERSES. Naguib Mahfouz, the winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature, criticized Khomeini for 'intellectual terrorism' but changed his view later and said that Rushdie did not have 'the right to insult anything, especially a prophet or anything considered holy.' The Nobel writer V.S. Naipaul described Khomeini's fatwa as "an extreme form of literary criticism."
The Islam formerly known as Cat Stevens wrote:"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.''
The problem isn't the Qur'an's opinion on the murder of innocent people; the problem is the Qur'an's definition of "innocent people."
lets see, i'll run that through my Koran translator...
ah yes "innocent people" n. 1. Devout muslims.
You forgot the rest of the definition ...
"innocent people"
n. 1. Devout Muslims.
n. 2. And only devout Muslims.
Damien Sorresso
"Ever see what them computa bitchez do to numbas? It ain't natural. Numbas ain't supposed to be code, they supposed to quantify shit."
- The Onion
Cat Stevens is an American citizen and the U.S. government has no business barring a citizen from entering the country. If he supports Hamas or Basque separatists or whatever, arrest him and try him. But this whole thing is chickenshit.
Besides, Moonshadow and Morning Has Broken are great songs. Maybe we could let him enter as long as he plays his music and that inbred fuckhead Toby Keith leaves the country.
Elfdart wrote:You are all missing the most important issue:
Cat Stevens is an American citizen and the U.S. government has no business barring a citizen from entering the country. If he supports Hamas or Basque separatists or whatever, arrest him and try him. But this whole thing is chickenshit.
Besides, Moonshadow and Morning Has Broken are great songs. Maybe we could let him enter as long as he plays his music and that inbred fuckhead Toby Keith leaves the country.
Oh you mean this...
Courtesy Of The Red, White, And Blue
Lyrics for Album: Unleashed
(The Angry American)
American girls and American guys, will always stand up and salute.
We'll always recognize, when we see ol' glory flying,
There's a lot of men dead,
So we can sleep in peace at night when we lay down our heads.
My daddy served in the army where he lost his right eye,
But he flew a flag out in our yard 'til the day that he died.
He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me.
To grow up and live happy in the land of the free.
Now this nation that I love is fallin' under attack.
A mighty sucker-punch came flying in from somewhere in the back.
Soon as we could see clearly through our big black eye,
Man, we lit up your world like the fourth of July.
Hey, Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list,
And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist.
And the eagle will fly and it's gonna be hell,
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell.
And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you.
Ah, brought to you, courtesy of the red, white and blue.
Instrumental break.
Oh, justice will be served and the battle will rage:
This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage.
An' you'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A.
'Cos we'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way.
Hey, Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list,
And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist.
And the eagle will fly and it's gonna be hell,
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell.
And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you.
Ah, brought to you, courtesy of the red, white and blue.
Oh, oh.
Of the red, white and blue.
Oh, hey, oh.
Of my Red, White and Blue
Sudden power is apt to be insolent, sudden liberty saucy; that behaves best which has grown gradually.
Elfdart wrote:You are all missing the most important issue:
Cat Stevens is an American citizen and the U.S. government has no business barring a citizen from entering the country. If he supports Hamas or Basque separatists or whatever, arrest him and try him. But this whole thing is chickenshit.
Just like always, you never let facts stand in the way of your leftist ideology. Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam is not, in fact, an American citizen. He was born Steven Georgiou, on July 21, 1947, in London. He grew up there. He's a British subject, and not only does the DHS has every right to bar him from the country, I applaud their decision to do so; he's an intolerant, anti-Semitic, terrorist sympathizer - in other words, an undesirable alien.
Elfdart wrote:You are all missing the most important issue:
Cat Stevens is an American citizen and the U.S. government has no business barring a citizen from entering the country. If he supports Hamas or Basque separatists or whatever, arrest him and try him. But this whole thing is chickenshit.
Just like always, you never let facts stand in the way of your leftist ideology. Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam is not, in fact, an American citizen. He was born Steven Georgiou, on July 21, 1947, in London. He grew up there. He's a British subject, and not only does the DHS has every right to bar him from the country, I applaud their decision to do so; he's an intolerant, anti-Semitic, terrorist sympathizer - in other words, an undesirable alien.
But for those who call DU and P4C their home that is Presidental material...
Sudden power is apt to be insolent, sudden liberty saucy; that behaves best which has grown gradually.
Salon wrote: Sept. 22, 2004 | Washington -- The singer formerly known as Cat Stevens is forbidden from flying into the United States because of his alleged association with possible terrorists, U.S. officials said Wednesday in explaining why a London-to-Washington flight carrying the peace activist was diverted.
The claim was disputed by the brother of the American-born singer, who changed his name to Yusuf Islam more than 25 years ago and now lives in London.
Salon wrote: Sept. 22, 2004 | Washington -- The singer formerly known as Cat Stevens is forbidden from flying into the United States because of his alleged association with possible terrorists, U.S. officials said Wednesday in explaining why a London-to-Washington flight carrying the peace activist was diverted.
The claim was disputed by the brother of the American-born singer, who changed his name to Yusuf Islam more than 25 years ago and now lives in London.
Cat Stevens (born July 21, 1948) was the stage name of a popular singer-songwriter during the 1970s. Born Stephen Demetre Georgiou in London, he has since changed his name to Yusuf Islam after converting to Islam.
NAME: Cat Stevens
BORN: 21/07/1948
BIRTH PLACE: London, England
BIOGRAPHY
Cat Stevens was born Stephen Demetre Georgiou in 1948 to a Greek Cypriot father and a Swedish mother. The family owned a restaurant on Shaftesbury Avenue in the west End of London, and Stevens and his older brother and sister waited tables from an early age.
[/quote]
Sudden power is apt to be insolent, sudden liberty saucy; that behaves best which has grown gradually.
