Terrorism
Thu Sep 23 2004 13:01 MDT #Yesterday had a lot of terrorism related news.
First off we learn that Cat Stevens, now Yusuf Islam, has been denied entry into the United States. That his presence lead to his flight from the London to DC, being diverted to Bangor Maine where he was removed from the flight, then deported back the to UK. The interesting points are that he is a today a very public British Muslim peace activist, who has strongly condemned terrorism. (He does seems to have had a less savory past). That he was just in the states in May. And that the Brits are a bit torqued. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, told Colin Powell that action "should not have been taken".
A bit depressing there. Our system here sucks. And I have real doubts this man was a threat, and I don't trust the people that are making these calls.
Next up we are deporting a US citizen to Saudi Arabia. In Nov. 01, we picked up Yaser Hamdi in Afghanistan, and we've held him ever since without filing charges. At least we are letting him go, even if we are taking his citizenship in exchange for his freedom.
And finally there is this article from the Nation on Ashcroft's record vis a vis the conviction of foreign terrorists. And in particular his only conviction, out of the more than 5,000 foreign nationals held on terrorism charges, was just thrown out. And apparently rightly so.