big, big black eye

[sisyphusshrugged]

As you know, I've been a bit concerned about the public relations aspect of the Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens situation, given the whole hearts and minds thing. There may indeed be reason for concern. via snuh, who seems to be on top of this situation

The Yusuf Islam incident earlier this week, in which the former Cat Stevens was denied entry into the U.S. when federal officials determined he was on the government's "no-fly" antiterror list, started with a simple spelling error. According to aviation sources with access to the list, there is no Yusuf Islam on the no-fly registry, though there is a "Youssouf Islam." The incorrect name was added to the register this summer, but because Islam's name is spelled "Yusuf" on his British passport, he was allowed to board a plane in London bound for the U.S. The Transportation Safety Administration alleges that Islam has links to terrorist groups, which he has denied; British foreign minister Jack Straw said the TSA action "should never have been taken."

The incident points up some of the real problems facing security personnel as they try to enforce the "no-fly" list. One issue is spelling; many foreign names have several different transliterations into English. And the sheer size of the list is daunting; thousands of names have been added in the last couple months, says one government official, bringing the total up to more than 19,000 names to look out for. That makes it difficult for airlines and government agencies to check all passengers. Within the past six months, several people on the no fly list have been mistakenly allowed to fly.

Still, the TSA is learning. It recently acknowledged that a Federal Air Marshall, unable to fly for weeks when his name was mistakenly put on the "no-fly" list, was in fact not a threat, and removed his name from the list.

Meanwhile, Islam is pleading for the lives of the british hostages

Yusuf Islam, the singer and song-writer formerly known as Cat Stevens, has urged Islamic militants in Iraq to free British hostage Kenneth Bigley, seized 10 days ago and threatened with death.

"As a member of the Muslim Council I request you, in the name of Allah, the Rahman, to release the British citizen, Ken Bigley for the good name of our religion and according to the sayings of Allah in the glorious Qur'an," Islam said in a letter sent to the media by the British embassy in Baghdad on Sunday.

The letter is dated September 24.

The plea by Islam, known for the hit songs "Moonshadow", "Peace Train" and "The First Cut is the Deepest", came as a delegation of the Muslim Council of Britain was in Iraq pressing for the release of Bigley.

The delegation from Britain's biggest Muslim group met with Iraq's President Ghazi Yawar on Sunday.

Somewhere, Karl Rove is on his knees praying that Ken Bigley is already dead.

Comments

[dublingal-ny.livejournal.com]

This is all pretty worrying to me - my fiance's name is Mohammed Islam (although he goes by a nickname) and there are literally thousands of Md Islams in the US, any one of whom could be suspected (rightly or wrongly) of any sort of badness. We're off to Ireland in November, so we'll see how he gets through security then . . . .

:(

[jmhm.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you were engaged. Congratulations.

Perhaps it might serve to get in touch with the airline ahead of time and make sure.

[dublingal-ny.livejournal.com]

Ah we've been engaged for almost two years at this point, we just ccan't seem to get both our families in one continent at any one time.


Perhaps it might serve to get in touch with the airline ahead of time and make sure.

Or to release a CD of gentle folk-pop . . . .

[jmhm.livejournal.com]

I suppose it was inevitable, but one of the stories about this was called "Moonshadow Boxing"

I didn't know he wrote First Cut is the Deepest.

[(Anonymous)]

FROM Newsweek (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6099899/site/newsweek/) (which says that Islam's name was added to the list at the behest of the intel community, which makes no sense -- unless it was indeed the former singer they were referring to;

Already angered by the government's treatment of Yusuf Islam, the American Muslim community is likely to become further enraged when the Bush administration launches a new pre-election antiterrorism campaign this week that will include the likely arrests of hundreds of aliens from Middle Eastern and other countries known to be havens for terrorists. Homeland Security has targeted for possible detention as many as 2,000 foreigners who are believed to be in violation of their visas and about whom there is "soft intelligence" suggesting possible terror connections. Some security and intel officials acknowledged, however, that intel on Yusuf Islam might be so soft that the U.S. authorities may have to apologize to the singer.

So, cause indeed to be worried about the cases of mistaken identity if you have an Arabic name.

--s.z.

[jmhm.livejournal.com]

Hey, good morning!

[spiderfarmer.livejournal.com]

I'm not Islamic, I have an exceedingly Anglo name, I am not now, nor have I ever been a terrorist of any variety...I'm terrified of flying, and thus have never taken flight lessons, and I'm on the No Fly List. Nobody will tell me why, and nobody will tell me how to get off of it.

(Although, I suspect that my WTO protests and the various "subversive" campaigns I've been a part of probably have something to do with it. Sheesh, you fund a few Magic Christian activities and suddenly you're off the Bush Xmas card list...go figure.)

[jmhm.livejournal.com]

Her MaJesty had her bitty baby searched by airport security when she and the husband ordered last-minute tickets to Michigan over the internet.

It doesn't have to make sense, I guess.