Blogcritics: Comments on Cat On a Hot Tin Plane

Comment by Lono

Wed, 29 Sep 2004 01:32:39 EDT

I posted this on the two other discussions, including the one that started all this - but Cat is cleared! It was a typo involving his name 'Yusef' and the more common spelling (and the spelling actually tied to the no-fly list) of 'Youssouf' - see the story here

Comment by JR

Thu, 23 Sep 2004 16:39:48 EDT

cynicism aside, I do not believe either government just makes things up out of thin air for its own Kafkaesque amusement I don't know whether or not it amuses them, but you can ask Brandon Mayfield about what they can generate from thin air. he isn't an American citizen, he wasn't convicted of anything: he was denied entry into the country because he is on a list of terrorists and sympathizers - it's up to him to get himself off the list, yes. It's the government's job to enforce the law, and it should be their responsibility to get it right. I'm not one to care much about some religious fanatic, but if the government can divert airplanes with vague references to the possibility that charitible contributions eventually ended up in the hands of terrorists, I'm wondering how few mistakes they have to make before they knock down my front door. Personally, I don't have the royalty income this guy has; so if I somehow ended up on some secretly compiled shit list, I'm not at all sure I could get myself off it.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Thu, 23 Sep 2004 16:07:57 EDT

cynicism aside, I do not believe either government just makes things up out of thin air for its own Kafkaesque amusement he isn't an American citizen, he wasn't convicted of anything: he was denied entry into the country because he is on a list of terrorists and sympathizers - it's up to him to get himself off the list, yes.

Comment by JR

Thu, 23 Sep 2004 15:04:38 EDT

The U.S. and Israeli governments claim to have reliable evidence that he contributed thousands to Hamas... Oh, well if THEY say so, how could it not be true? It is certainly possible he didn't intentionally fund terror, but it's up to him to fully resolve the matter. Yeah, guilty until proven innocent.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Thu, 23 Sep 2004 14:24:02 EDT

good point, but he converted to Islam in '77 and the Rushdie matter was 10 years later. The U.S. nad Israeli governments claim to have reliable evidence that he contributed thousands to Hamas, I haven't heard details on the blind sheik. It is certainly possible he didn't intentionally fund terror, but it's up to him to fully resolve the matter.

Comment by Tim Hall

Thu, 23 Sep 2004 14:11:15 EDT

Harry's Place has some thoughts on this. One of two of the comments are worth reading, such as this one: "Stevens' mid 1980s conversion to Islam came shortly after what anyone would recognise in retrospect as a fairly serious nervous breakdown, and his actions and statements around that time should probably be seen in that context. Peter Green (ex Fleetwood Mac) said some pretty strange things during his period off the rails, and David Bowie notoriously went through a Nazi period. I think it's rather rough to hold people to statements they made twenty years ago when they weren't well." The allegations that he funded terrorism are unsubstantiated, and may well be through ignorance rather than malice. How many Irish-Americans unwittedly donated to the IRA thinking they were donating to republican humanitarian charities? This isn't a black-and-white issue, it's very much shades of grey here.