As it turns out. His Islam name - Yusuf Islam - was not on the list. But a similar name - Youssouf Islam - was on the list.
None the less - the Bush administration still insists that Cat Stevens is a terrorist supporter and that the acted properly in deporting him for having a similar name to someone else on the list.
The solution - people with common names or names spelled similar to those who might be on a terrorost list - names like David Nelson - should change their name, or maybe just move to some other country and stay out of America. I don't know why people from free nations would want to visit this country anyway.
Earlier this week Colin Powell defended the deportation:
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.
"We have no charges against him," Powell told reporters at the foreign press center here. "We have nothing that would be actionable in our courts, or in the courts in the United Kingdom, I'm sure.
"But it is the procedure that we have been using to know who is coming into our country, know their backgrounds and interests and see whether we believe it is appropriate for them to come in," he said.
"With respect to Cat Stevens ... our Homeland Security Department and intelligence agencies found some information concerning his activities that they felt under our law required him to be placed on a watch list and therefore deny him entry into the United States," Powell said.
"In this instance, information was obtained that suggested he should be placed on the watch list and that's why he was denied entry into the country," he said.
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This is what happens when you suspend the constitution like the Bush administration has done.
So - now that we know that the problem was a spelling error - will they let Cat Stevens in now?
The dirtbag republicans did similar when they disenfrachised thousands of Florida's African American voters in the 2000 election by purging the voter lists of law-biding voters if their name was "similar" to a felon's name.
The cowardly republican party is worse than Al-Qaeda. I hate them both.
Posted by: Jizzy Jim and the Arab Seamen at September 26, 2004 10:00 AMFirst thing is first, we do not have to allow anyone into this country. And we do not have to give them a reason. Another fact is that many middle eastern people have one name and many ways of spelling it (Khadaffi is one). Better safe than sorry. I would rathet accidentally keep one good guy out then to accidentally let one bad guy in.
Posted by: tomocius at September 26, 2004 02:21 PM"So - now that we know that the problem was a spelling error - will they let Cat Stevens in now?"
Hell NO - then they might be forced to consider the possibility that they may have done something wrong.
And tomocious, I hope that there is someone out there on the no-fly list whose name is close enough to yours so that you can find out first hand what this sort of harrassment is like. Just like the rest of the fat cat elitist Repugnicants, you sound like you could give a rat's ass about anyone but yourself. If this was something you needed to be concerned about you would be screaming about it at the top of your lungs.
Posted by: (: Tom :) at September 27, 2004 10:43 AMi eat donkey poo
Posted by: tomocius at September 28, 2004 12:58 PM