Why did this happen...

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-09-2003
Why did this happen...
6
Wed, 09-22-2004 - 9:32am
To a man singing about "riding on the peace train?"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6067570/

"Without music, life is a journey through the desert"...

Avatar for tmcgoughy
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-08-2003
Wed, 09-22-2004 - 9:40am
It's really starting to seem like the
The first key to wisdom is constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.  -
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-15-2004
Wed, 09-22-2004 - 10:44am
Oh, goodness me. Poor Cat! Seems to me that the American administration is confusing "muslim" with "terrorist." Shameful!!!!!!
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-09-2003
Wed, 09-22-2004 - 11:32am
It really is shameful... I agree with both of you. It's sad that there are so many close-minded people in this world. I know there's a security need, but it's really been taken too far. And it's not just about Cat, it's unfair to all the others who have been singled out just because of their names. :-(

"Without music, life is a journey through the desert"...

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Wed, 09-22-2004 - 8:31pm

Here's the latest 'explanation' from the U.S. Government....


http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=Cat%20Stevens%20Plane


Wednesday, September 22, 2004 · Last updated 5:05 p.m. PT


U.S. says Cat Stevens may have terror ties


By LESLIE MILLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER


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 London-born singer, who changed his name to Yusuf Islam more than 25 years ago.


David Gordon said his brother has condemned terrorist acts and donates money to terrorism victims. "He just wants to be an ambassador for peace," said Gordon, who lives in Princeton, N.J., and serves as Islam's business manager.


Ironically, Islam, while in Washington last May, met with officials of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives "to talk about philanthropic work," according to White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan.


The office is located across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. Buchan said that was before Islam was added to the no-fly list.


United Airlines Flight 919 was en route to Dulles International Airport on Tuesday when U.S. officials reviewing the passenger list discovered Islam was aboard. The aircraft was diverted to Maine's Bangor International Airport, where federal agents met the plane and interviewed Islam.


He was placed on a plane back to London on Wednesday. Gordon said Islam's 21-year-old daughter, Maymanah, was allowed to stay in the country.


Meantime, there was confusion about how someone on the government's "no-fly list" was allowed to board a plane. Airline personnel are supposed to check passengers' names against people on the list. Anyone who matches is to be kept off flights.


United spokesman Jeff Green said the airline followed procedures in checking Islam's name, and it wasn't on the list.


"The information did not match," Green said.


Green and Homeland Security Department spokesman Dennis Murphy said the airline and the government are working together to figure out what happened. It's possible Islam's name was spelled differently on the list, Homeland Security officials conceded.


Under rules imposed following the Sept. 11 attacks, once an international flight is bound for the United States, passenger information is forwarded to U.S. officials. The amount of data varies, but can include name, address, flight details, seat location, form of payment and meal preference.


U.S. authorities use the information to run a more thorough check against government watch lists. That's when authorities discovered that Islam was on the plane.


Unlike airline workers, law enforcement officers are trained to look for names that sound like those on the watch list or are spelled differently than the ones on the watch list, Homeland Security spokesman Garrison Courtney said.


The Transportation Security Administration, which is part of the Homeland Security Department, announced plans Tuesday to take over the task of checking names against watch lists before passengers get on planes. The agency is developing a computerized system that will compare passenger data with the watch lists for domestic flights only.


U.S. authorities provided few details about Islam's alleged connection to terrorism.


Homeland Security spokesman Brian Doyle would only say that the intelligence community has recently obtained information that "further heightens concern" about Islam.


"Yusuf Islam has been placed on the watch lists because of activities that could potentially be related to terrorism," Doyle said. "It's a serious matter."


A second government official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. authorities think donations from Islam may have ended up helping to fund blind sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, convicted for a plot to bomb New York City landmarks, and Hamas, a Palestinian militant group considered a terrorist organization by the United States.


In July 2000, Islam was deported hours after arriving in Jerusalem. A local paper reported then that the government claimed he had delivered tens of thousands of dollars to Hamas during a visit in 1988. Islam denied ever knowingly supporting Islamic terrorists.


The Council on American-Islamic Relations at a news conference Wednesday said the deportation "sends a message to the Islamic world that even those who seek peace and condemn terror are not fit to enter the United States."


Islam, 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 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.


---


On the Net:


Homeland Security Department: http://www.dhs.gov


Yusuf Islam: http://www.yusufislam.org.uk/


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Thu, 09-23-2004 - 9:59am

Update: 'Amused' Cat Stevens back home.


The British recording artist Yusuf Islam returned to London Thursday saying he was "shocked and slightly amused" after U.S. officials determined he was on a terrorist watch list and was not allowed to enter the United States.


Islam, the peace activist and singer once known as Cat Stevens, said he was traveling to Nashville, Tennessee, with his daughter for a recording session when he was approached aboard the flight into Washington, D.C.


"Suddenly we were forced to land and suddenly I was being interrogated by all these FBI officers," Islam said at an impromptu press conference at London's Heathrow Airport.


"The whole thing is totally ridiculous. Everybody knows who I am, you know, I'm no secret figure. Everybody knows my campaigning for charity, for peace. And there's got to be a whole lot of explanations. Hopefully there will be that."


When asked if he was being victimized, he said "absolutely," then added, "but you know people make mistakes."


"I just hope they've made a big mistake."


Islam was taken off a United Air Lines flight from London to Washington on Tuesday and officially denied entry to the United States when U.S. authorities ordered the aircraft to land in Bangor, Maine.


He was taken to Boston and Washington before being sent back to London on another United flight from Dulles International Airport.


U.S. Muslim leaders say they want the government to explain why he was on a "watch list" meant to keep terrorists out of the country.


Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge accused Islam of having some unspecified relationship with terrorist activity.


"Celebrity or unknown, our job is to act on information that others have given us," Ridge said.


"And in this instance, there was some relationship between the name and the terrorists' activity with this individual's name being on that no-fly list, and appropriate action was taken."


Other officials said he was on the watch list because of reported associations and financial support for Muslim charities with terrorist connections. But they would not disclose the names of those charities, and Homeland Security spokesman Garrison Courtney told CNN only that "the intelligence community has come into possession of additional information that further heightens our concerns of Yusuf Islam."


More......... http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/09/23/stevens.back.britain/index.html

cl-Libraone~

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Fri, 09-24-2004 - 10:30am
Cat Stevens to take legal action.



>"He said a legal process had been put in place to find out what had happened.

In a statement Mr Islam said: "Never would I believe that such a thing could happen in the 'land of the free' - unfortunately, it did.

"I was not given (and have still not been given) any explanation as to what it is I am accused of, or why I am now deemed an apparent security threat.

"I was simply told that the order had come from 'on high'.

"We have now initiated a legal process to try to find out exactly what is going on, and to take all necessary steps to undo the very serious, and wholly unfounded, injustice which I have suffered.

"I am a man of peace and denounce all forms of terrorism and injustice; it is simply outrageous for the US authorities to suggest otherwise." "<


Quote from...........


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3686992.stm

cl-Libraone~

 


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