Say Anything Blog

As I'm sure you've all heard by now, Yusuf Islam f/k/a Cat Stevens (the artist responsible for "Morning Has Broken" and "Wild World") was denied entry into the United States because his name is on a watchlist of potential terrorists. He has now been deported back to Great Britain.

Certain Muslim advocacy groups have, as might expect, condemned this action by the U.S. government.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading Arab-American group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), sent letters to President Bush (news - web sites) and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge asking them to explain why Islam was barred from entering the United States.

"Yusuf Islam is perhaps one of the most widely known and respected personalities in the Muslim world. He has a long history of promoting peace and reconciliation and condemning terrorism," said Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR.

If by "long history of promoting peace and reconciliation and condemning terrorism" they mean "supported Jew-hating, fanatical Muslim suicide bombers in Israel" they're spot-on.

According to Israeli intelligence, Islam delivered "tens of thousands" of dollars to Hamas, a terrorist organization in Israel.

From, ironically enough, the Cat Stevens website:

LONDON (AP) - Yusuf Islam (Bio) - formerly known as pop star Cat Stevens (Bio) - criticized Israeli authorities on Friday for deporting him and denied that he had ever knowingly supported Islamic terrorists.

Islam, 51, who changed his name after becoming a Muslim in the late 1970s, was refused entry into Israel hours after arriving Wednesday. The former singer said he was told only that he was a ``threat to national security.''

Israeli Defense Ministry officials refused to comment on Islam's case other than to say that the Shin Bet, Israel's internal intelligence agency, had ordered him barred from the country. The Maariv Daily in Israel reported that the government claimed Islam had delivered tens of thousands of dollars to Hamas, a militant Islamic group, during his last visit in 1988.

``Upon my return to London, reports were already circulating that the Israeli authorities were trying to excuse their actions by linking me to terrorist groups,'' Islam said in a statement. ``I want to make sure that people are aware that I've never knowingly supported any terrorist groups - past, present or future. It's simply an attempt to cast doubt again on my character and good intentions.''

Emphasis added.

Its interesting to note his use of the word "knowingly" here, especially given this quote from later in the article.

Israel says that money designated for Hamas-backed charities often is diverted to the militant Islamic movement's guerrilla wing. Hebron is a Hamas stronghold.

If you ask me, Islam is using that "knowingly" term as an attempt at plausible deniability. Notice that he never actually denies giving the money to Hamas. He just says that he didn't "knowingly" support terrorism. He wants us to believe that he gave the money to Hamas-backed charities without knowing that much of this money is diverted to terrorist operations. Apparently we're supposed to believe this "babe-in-the-woods" routine.

On a related note, Michael Moore received support from Hamas for the middle-east release of Fahrenheit 9/11. Any chance we can get his fat ass deported?