Quote:
Ex-singer Cat Stevens denied US access
Posted Wed, 22 Sep 2004
A United Airlines flight from London to Washington was rerouted to Bangor, Maine, late Tuesday to prevent Yusuf Islam, the British pop musician formerly known as Cat Stevens, from entering the United States, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
Islam, who converted to Islam in 1977, was believed to be a financial supporter of groups believed to be linked to terrorism, US officials told the daily.
He was "denied entry into the United States", the officials said, adding that Islam was to be deported without indicating when.
One official said Islam "is not on a watch list for making verbal threats".
The US Department of Homeland Security ordered the Boeing 747-400 airliner to alter its destination to Bangor, where Islam was placed in the custody of Immigrations and Customs officials.
AFP
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You know this does seem ridiculous. I mean, how much of a threat is the artist formally know as Cat?
Of course if he were allowed to stay and actually did something bad, people would clamor about the failure of security to recogize even the most obvious and well known threats.
[ 09-22-2004, 08:17 AM: Message edited by: Ronn_Bman ]