Derailing the Peace Train
Current Affairs, Music 09/23/2004 |I saw this while flipping through the paper yesterday on lunch, and thought it was fairly ridiculous, and now the story is making it’s way across the ‘net: the United States is now safely protected from the evil Cat Stevens.
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.”
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p>I guess someone got tired of hearing Peace Train…
(Via Boing Boing and Len.)
[See also: Terror in whose eyes? | Going down | More info on JetBlue | Boston Globe Online / City & Region / Teen arrested at Logan for alleged bomb threat in his bag | Rebutting Powell ]
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3 Responses to “Derailing the Peace Train”
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Tim Who?
Michael Hanscom
jer@nyquil.org
September 23rd, 2004 at 10:43 am
In all fairness Yusef Islam did agree with the Ayatollah Khomeini in calling for the death of Salman Rushdie and he’s has donated thousands to Hamas.
September 24th, 2004 at 9:59 am
I just have difficulty keeping a straight face when reading a story in which someone named Cat (even though he changed it) is suspected of evil. It’s like saying Scruffy McWuggles is a suspected terrorist or something.
In all seriousness, the biggest problem isn’t even just that he was on the no-fly list. It’s a question of security - how the hell does someone with such a high profile who is also on the no-fly list get on the damn plane!
P.S. (Peace Train is one of the greatest songs ever written)
September 25th, 2004 at 9:30 pm
Wasn’t Stevens the new ace of spades in the terror deck? With any luck, we’ll capture his number two any day now. (So, watch your ass, Gordon Lightfoot.)