Cat Stevens raises terror concern on inbound Flight

Cat Stevens booted off flight

So, if I read this right, they kicked off well known performer Cat Stevens because he's Muslim, and therefore might be a "threat"? Stuff like this sounds a lot like what we did to the Japanese American citizens during WWII.

Damn, I was gonna post this... :D

are you actually surprised? look at all the shit that goes on these days. homeland security, patriot act, etc. in a pretty similar recent incident, senator ted kennedy (d-ma) wasn't allowed on a flight (on more than one occasion) because he was on a list that said he was a potential threat. you can't tell me you don't expect these types of things.

His song Poor Street now seems prophetic :P

I dream of living up in the sky
Looking out a penthouse window
Watching the world below go by
But I can't fly...oh no I can't fly, well not that high

U.S. authorities think donations from Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) may have ended up helping to fund blind sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Hamas, a Palestinian militant group considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel.

fodders said:

U.S. authorities think donations from Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) may have ended up helping to fund blind sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Hamas, a Palestinian militant group considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel.

He didn't literally hand the money over to those groups, did he, or was he simply funding a Muslim organization that happened to spread the money around to them? It's not like it's anything new for a person to donate money to a cause that ends up in groups who wish to do harm. I can understand being concerned about that sort of thing, but we're going about it the wrong way.

Snarboo said:

He didn't literally hand the money over to those groups, did he, or was he simply funding a Muslim organization that happened to spread the money around to them? It's not like it's anything new for a person to donate money to a cause that ends up in groups who wish to do harm. I can understand being concerned about that sort of thing, but we're going about it the wrong way.

According to his website: FAQ

Q: HAS YUSUF/CAT STEVENS EVER GIVEN MONEY TO CHARITIES THAT SUPPORT TERRORISM, AND/OR DOES HE SUPPORT TERRORISM IN ANY WAY?:
No, of course not. Yusuf is a man of peace and feels that terrorism is un-islamic. He has never given any money or support to any terrorist organization. The same goes for charities that front terrorist groups. In fact Yusuf devotes most of his resources to his own charities. One, "Small Kindness" gives the money directly to the families in need (there are no middle-men involved).

AMERICA: the land of the free!

This is pretty dumb if all the facts are true. However it does look like he was blacklisted for some reason, so none of really no what the full story is.

Wasnt "Imagine" by Lennon banned from american radio shortly after 9/11 because it was considered to "Promote terrorism?"

WTF? that's dumb.

Snarboo said:

Cat Stevens booted off flight
Stuff like this sounds a lot like what we did to the Japanese during WWII.

Not the greatest example when you consider what they used to do to POW's.

pritch said:

Not the greatest example when you consider what they used to do to POW's.

I'm dumb...what I meant to say was Japanese American citizens, or even any citizen of Asian decent during WWII. We basically rounded them up, relocated them out to the desert, and forced them into Camps. The Government claimed that some of them might be spies, when in reality most had little to no ties to their homeland, so we were more than likely suffering from extreme xenophobia. That's where the comparison to Cat Stevens' situation came from.

Are you comparing the internment of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans in unsanitary, cruel camps to Cat Stevens being sent back to UK on a plane?

Scuba Steve said:

Are you comparing the internment of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans in unsanitary, cruel camps to Cat Stevens being sent back to UK on a plane?

the actions might have been more harsh and appalling back then, but it still runs in the same vein.

Scuba Steve said:

Are you comparing the internment of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans in unsanitary, cruel camps to Cat Stevens being sent back to UK on a plane?

In the sense that we're probably descriminating on him based on race or religion, then yes. We've gotten dangerously close to the way we were during WWII when it comes to things like that.

Maybe they just didn't like the Harold and Maude soundtrack?