September 24, 2004

• Why Don’t They Go After Real Terrorists Department:

  
  

  Ex-Pop Star Cat Stevens Deported from U.S.

  
  

  

  
  

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former pop singer Cat Stevens, a Muslim, was deported to Britain on Wednesday after U.S. officials said his activities could be “linked to terrorism” and his name was put on a U.S. no-fly list.
  Arab-Americans and Muslims in Britain voiced outrage over the treatment of Stevens, who changed his name to Yusuf Islam when he shelved his singing and songwriting career and became a Muslim almost three decades ago. He was seen being escorted by U.S. security officials onto a United Airlines flight at Dulles International Airport bound for London’s Heathrow Airport on Wednesday evening. Homeland Security spokesman Brian Doyle said Islam’s Washington D.C.-bound plane was diverted on Tuesday to Bangor, Maine, after his name turned up on U.S. lists of suspected terrorists. He was questioned by officials and then taken to Boston to catch a connecting flight in Washington for London.

  
  

  
  “Now I’ve been happy lately, thinking about the good things to come
  And I believe it could be, something good has begun
  Oh, I’ve been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one
  And I believe it could be, some day it’s going to come
  Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a Peace Train
  Oh Peace Train, take this country, come take me home again.”

  
  

  “Peace Train” © A&M Records written and recorded by Cat Stevens

  
  

  Every so often I see something in the news that gets my blood a boiling, and makes me question, in an age of demented reason, why has this happened? Aren’t there enough real terrorists in this world, that we have to detain and deport peace loving ex-pop stars? People got upset when Cat became Yusuf and converted to the Islamic faith. When I read something like this bit of news, I wonder if the Bush Crusade Against Islam isn’t just that, a damn Crusade. The Crusades in the early part of the last Millennium didn’t do any thing positive except drive a rift through the city of Jerusalem that is still felt VERY strongly today.

  
  

  NEW YORK (AFP) – US Secretary of State Colin Powell defended a US decision to deny entry to British singer Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens.

  
  

  LONDON, Sept. 23 – Yusuf Islam, the British singer once known as Cat Stevens, returned to London on Thursday after being barred from entering the United States, saying he was “totally shocked” that American officials considered him a potential terrorist threat.

  
  

  “Now I’ve been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is, Why must we go on hating, why can’t we live in bliss?” 

  
  

  WHY INDEED? 

  
  

  (The first entry in the series of public abuse of our pop stars can be seen here.)

  • 8:08 am
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