Cat Stevens on Terrorist Watchlist - Plane Diverted

[The Fool]

The problem is that Cat Stevens has supported causes (killing Rushdie) and groups (Hamas) that are not acceptable in civilized society.

Should he be banned from flying? Probably not. Should his luggage and person be searched extremely thoroughly. Probably.

I doubt very much that he is a killer but he has supported people who are. Is it guilt by association? Yes but would you really be comfortable with an non-famous Hamas supporter next you on a plane?

Just because he is a famous person should not give him any extra rights.

CBL

Who proclaimed that Hamas story true?

Do you know if his "support" for rushdies death was anything more than an ambush question where he confirmed that in muslim holy books the penalty for blasphemy is death (as it is in Christian books).


THIS IS THE LAST GENERAL WARNING TO ALL POSTER!!!!!!

one more negative statement about the CAT and I will not be held responsible for your personal safety.....

Come on, lets all sing along, you know you want to.
Dum De Dem...de dum moon shadow.....mmmmm hmmmm hmmmm......

 

[TillEulenspiegel]

Jeezus fookin cristmas can You people discuss anything without it turning in to a plebiscite on Isreal/Palistine..goddamn ..


Originally posted by The Fool
Dee Dee De Dum ....Dum de Dum De Dumm Dum .....mmmmm m m m dum de dum de dum dum..........

ok folks, who can guess which CS song that was that I was Humming....

Look, I know his stuff sucks badly when you listen to it today but that was THEN... it was my youth and its full of Cat Stevens memories.

YA? well I usta drink Boon's farm mountain grape till I spewed my guts ( on more then 1 occasion ) out in a local Forrest preserve ...I don't do that any more.

Cat Stevens sucks. Cat Steven always sucked ( unless your indelibly white or a 14 yr old girl). His political views impact me at the same depth as Charlton Heston's or David Duke's.

Unfortunately some see celebrity as a stamp of approval for idiots who sing or act to dispense political advise. Bleh!

 

[waitew]

I don't get!If everyone is screened before getting on a plane so we know no one has explosives or weapons & if the cockpit doors are reinforced so no one can break in & if there are armed air marshalls on flights & if every passenger knows that they will all most certainly die in the event of a highjacking so they'll fight like hell to prevent it,why are there 'no fly' lists at all??
I mean even if Osama Bin Ladin himself were on a plane with no weapons or explosive surrounded by armed air marshalls & a couple hundred people willing to pounce on him if he tryed anything...what harm could he do?Is this just the new police state flexing it's muscles?

 

[epepke]

I don't get!If everyone is screened before getting on a plane so we know no one has explosives or weapons & if the cockpit doors are reinforced so no one can break in & if there are armed air marshalls on flights & if every passenger knows that they will all most certainly die in the event of a highjacking so they'll fight like hell to prevent it,why are there 'no fly' lists at all??

While you have a point about "no fly" lists, 1) Stevens/Islam was on a watch list and also a "do not admit to the US" list, and 2) it was an international flight.

 

[Dorian Gray]

Okay, we're all getting bogged down by the fact that a peace activist like Cat Stevens was on the list and ignoring the elephant in the room:

A person on the FBI/CIA watch list was able to get on a plane to Washington DC instead of being denied passage on that plane.

Can we begin the Bush bashing now? Under his watch, a person considered to be a threat to the US was allowed to board a plane - A PLANE, of all things - and this glaring error was only caught after the plane was halfway to DC.

What security? Are we more secure? Really? I mean, they stopped Kennedy from getting on a plane beforehand....

 

[peptoabysmal]

Hippie or terrorist? How about skeptic. One of Cat Steven's more obscure songs is a skeptic anthem about a dying man wondering about what happens after death. This was (oddly) very comforting to me when I was dealing with the isolation of being an atheist in a religious society. My favorite lines in red

I feel the power growing in my hair.

Nothing like a skeptic with a bong.

I have some fond memories that have his music as a sound track, but the man is a 100% nut case.

 

[a_unique_person]

Okay, we're all getting bogged down by the fact that a peace activist like Cat Stevens was on the list and ignoring the elephant in the room:

A person on the FBI/CIA watch list was able to get on a plane to Washington DC instead of being denied passage on that plane.

Can we begin the Bush bashing now? Under his watch, a person considered to be a threat to the US was allowed to board a plane - A PLANE, of all things - and this glaring error was only caught after the plane was halfway to DC.

What security? Are we more secure? Really? I mean, they stopped Kennedy from getting on a plane beforehand....

It's not as bad as it seems. The new strike fighter is being specially modified to shoot down airliners.

 

[Mycroft]

It's not as bad as it seems. The new strike fighter is being specially modified to shoot down airliners.

How shocking. I think in the event of another hyjacking, it would be much better to let the passengers die the old-fashioned way. I'm sure they would much prefer to take as many other people with them as they can.

 

[CFLarsen]

Okay, we're all getting bogged down by the fact that a peace activist like Cat Stevens was on the list and ignoring the elephant in the room:

A person on the FBI/CIA watch list was able to get on a plane to Washington DC instead of being denied passage on that plane.

Very true. It's the old mind trick: "Don't think of an elephant", in reverse.

I don't see any reason to return the plane, unless they suspected him of carrying bombs or guns on the plane. If they did, why didn't they arrest him afterwards?

If he was on a list, why not get him to the US and question him there? Hey, Gitmo's only a few hours away...

 

[CFLarsen]

Oh! I'm being followed by a moon shadow...Moon shadow, Mooon shadow,

Cat Stevens TOTALLY copied Mike Oldfield!!!

.....wait, that was "Moonlight shadow"....

 

[CFLarsen]

Dee Dee De Dum ....Dum de Dum De Dumm Dum .....mmmmm m m m dum de dum de dum dum..........

ok folks, who can guess which CS song that was that I was Humming....

"Leaving on a jetplane"?

 

[epepke]

I don't see any reason to return the plane, unless they suspected him of carrying bombs or guns on the plane. If they did, why didn't they arrest him afterwards?

They diverted the plane away from Washington to Maine. It landed. Then they arrested him. Now they're in the process of deporting him. Because he was on a permanent "do not admit" list.

 

[CFLarsen]

They diverted the plane away from Washington to Maine. It landed. Then they arrested him. Now they're in the process of deporting him. Because he was on a permanent "do not admit" list.

How did he get on the plane at all?

I can't find any references that he was arrested. He was withheld and sent back.

If you arrest someone, don't you have to charge them with a crime? That's usually how it works in countries with civil rights.

 

[Nitpick]

I feel the power growing in my hair.

Nothing like a skeptic with a bong.

I have some fond memories that have his music as a sound track, but the man is a 100% nut case.

Well he might be a nut case, but this line is probably just a reference to Samson.
So, if somebody in this whole affair had a little bong while writing, it probably wasn't a song he wrote but a thick black book he then hid in the night stand drawers of every hotel room in the western world.

 

[BPSCG]

A person on the FBI/CIA watch list was able to get on a plane to Washington DC instead of being denied passage on that plane.

Can we begin the Bush bashing now? Under his watch, a person considered to be a threat to the US was allowed to board a plane - A PLANE, of all things - and this glaring error was only caught after the plane was halfway to DC.

I see. A screening system works less than perfectly, therefore Bush sucks!!!

What security? Are we more secure? Really? I mean, they stopped Kennedy from getting on a plane beforehand....

There were two excellent reasons for that:

1) Airlines have a right to refuse boarding to drunk and obnoxious ticket holders. I don't know if Kennedy was drunk at the time (I'd say the odds are no more than 50-50), but he is obnoxious all the time.

2) If they let Ted on the plane, it would be too heavy to get off the ground.

 

[Atlas]

A person on the FBI/CIA watch list was able to get on a plane to Washington DC instead of being denied passage on that plane.

So someone is flying under the name: Islam... Did you expect the ticket taker to be clairvoyant.

C'mon - it means Peace.

 

[Tony]

Should I consider myself lucky for never having heard this guy's music?

 

[Atlas]

Should I consider myself lucky for never having heard this guy's music?

If I thought deafness only happened to the fortunate, I know I would.

 

[Dorian Gray]

I see. A screening system works less than perfectly, therefore Bush sucks!!!

No, Bush sucks independently of screening systems. However, Bush is running around the country pointing to his tough and successful stance on combatting terror, so it does look bad.

There were two excellent reasons for that:

1) Airlines have a right to refuse boarding to drunk and obnoxious ticket holders. I don't know if Kennedy was drunk at the time (I'd say the odds are no more than 50-50), but he is obnoxious all the time.

2) If they let Ted on the plane, it would be too heavy to get off the ground

Wow. Partisan drunk and fat jokes in lieu of a reason. You wouldn't be a Republican, would you?

 

[Atlas]

Well if Osama were to take a United flight from London to Washington I bet we'd find him too!

It looks like we will find out if he flew in June anyway.

SEPTEMBER 22, 2004 -- The Transportation Security Administration yesterday announced a proposed mandate for domestic carriers to provide passenger name record data from June as part of testing for the Secure Flight program--a modified version of the scrapped second-generation computer assisted passenger prescreening system. As TSA revives its prescreening system, critics are reviving concerns.