9.22.2004

What's in a name? While rightwingers say the War on Terror isn't a war on Islam, you'd hardly know it listening to some of their pundits. Today, FOX News Channel's Brian Kilmeade wondered how someone named Yusuf Islam--a.k.a. the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens--could've boarded a plane with that name. Islam, who as an entertainer wrote the now-aptly-named hits "Peace Train" and "Wild World," will be deported back to the UK because his activities "could be linked to terrorism." Says Kilmeade:
How did he get on board if he's on one [a government no-fly list]? See, I don't ... If your name is Yusuf Islam, you better have a good close look at him.... But let me just say, if the IRA [Irish Republican Army] had declared war on America, you better believe they would be patting me down left and right before I went on United [Airlines], because I stand to be Irish. So they declare war on us.

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