A writer for the Christian Science Monitor (one of the best US sources on Iraq, by the way) makes the argument that tossing Stevens off a plane and deporting him was one of the best way to alienate moderate Moslems:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0924/p09s01-coop.html
I do not know enough of the background to comment on the article, but the essential point, that "do not fly" lists are a form of secret blacklist appears to be a fair one. Does it remind anyone else of McCarthyism? Will a political or religious leader in the US stand up and take a stand against these practices? Or, will it need to wait until this administration is voted out of office, before a thorough investigation can be conducted?
That's up to men and women of conscience in the United States. By all appearances, left to their own devices, the Bush administration is well on the road to polarizing the world into battling religious groups, viewing alll Moslems as bad, regardless of the evidence. Or... could it be that the singer's crime was to lobby against the Iraq war? Suppression of dissent and freedom of speech? Boy, we sure are showing the world a fine version of democracy, aren't we?