Cat Stevens sent home because he's a terrorist

[lukpac]

Ok, I have a few questions on this one...

If Islam was on this list (lists?), how/why did he get as far as he did?

Why would he be on such lists? Does anyone really think he'd blow up a plane?

U.S. diverts plane because Cat Stevens on board

From Jeanne Meserve
CNN Homeland Security Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Singer Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, was taken off a diverted United Air Lines flight from London to Washington after his Muslim name turned up on a "watch list" designed to keep terrorists from boarding flights, a U.S. Transportation Security Administration spokesman has said.

Islam, 56, took that name when he became a Muslim in the 1970s.

An FBI spokeswoman told CNN the singer's name was only matched to the watch list after the plane had departed.

Islam, a British citizen, was held in Bangor, Maine after Flight 919 was ordered to land there Tuesday.

He will be deported back to London on Wednesday, according to the TSA.

A government official said Islam was on the watch list because of "known associations and financial support to organizations believed to be aiding terrorism."

According to U.S. officials, he is an active supporter of Muslim charities.

One administration official said the singer had been in the United States as recently as May and was a recent addition to the list.

The rest of the passengers were screened and continued on to Washington's Dulles International Airport after Islam was taken off the flight.

"They said, Get ready to land,' and then they said 'Welcome to Bangor.' And we though they were joking," one woman passenger said.

"We had no idea we'd been diverted."

The Boeing 747 had about 280 passengers and crew on board when it took off from London's Heathrow Airport, United spokesman Jeff Green said.

Federal agents met the plane in Bangor, where it was on the ground for about four hours before being allowed to depart, Green said.

It landed at Dulles nearly six hours behind schedule.

According to a TSA spokesman, Islam made it through pre-screening by United and was given a boarding pass.

But after the flight took off, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency discovered his name was on a watch list.

The TSA was notified and requested that the plane be diverted to the nearest airport.

As Cat Stevens, Islam had a string of folk-rock hits in the 1960s and early 1970s, including "Peace Train," "Morning Has Broken" and "Wild World."

He dropped out of the music business for more than a decade after converting to Islam but returned to the recording studio periodically during the 1990s.

[Chris M]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Artic ... 73,00.html

Article written by Cat after 9/11

[Rspaight]

Whew, I feel safer.

Ryan

[Grant]

Perhaps he should have used his birth name.

[Dob]

Why would he be on such lists? Does anyone really think he'd blow up a plane?

IMO some people make the no-fly/watch list because they are assessed to be a genuine threat, while others are put on there as a form of "punishment" for their "sins" (in Mr. Islam's case, contributing money to an organization not approved by the US, plus well-known political views he has or is perceived to have). If they're famous -- all the better, because then their punishment (getting kicked off the plane and deported) is news. In addition, the US has a tradition of picking on people with show business ties.

This is government harassment of a political "pariah," pure and simple. It's really no different than harassment by other forms, such as tax audits. But since Mr. Islam is a British citizen, the US government is limited as to what it can do.

[Dob]

On second thought, maybe the government does think he's capable of some sort of suicide mission. In the minds of many people, anyone who gives up the life of a pop star to be a religious dropout has got a few "screws loose"...and certainly can't be trusted. That goes double if he took up the religion "most associated with terrorism."