As a matter of curiosity, are you opposed to the "no fly" list across the board, of simply Americans being listed?
"As a matter of curiosity, are you opposed to the "no fly" list across the board, of simply Americans being listed?"
Actually, I was not referring to the "no fly" provision, but the "no entry" provision.
The "no fly" criteria do seem rather mysterious, and mistakes have been made in identifying people whose names appear on it, as being someone else, but in principal I do not have a big problem with it as it applies to Americans or anyone else.
Some of the posters here have implied that the "barring" of entry to these two citizens is purely a result of their inability to board an aircraft to fly home. However, that is not what the article says. The article quotes Federal officials as saying that the two "will not be let back into the country" unless they answer questions. That is different from saying they will not be permitted to travel here by air. The "no fly" rule appears to be an ADDITIONAL impediment. Those who say that the article has the matter wrong have not stated the source of their purported superior knowledge of the matter. I have read the other thread on this topic, all 203 posts, and there was nothing there supporting this view.
Also, while I have heard of lots of people turned away from flights because they were on the "no fly" list, I have never heard of any who were offered the chance to board a later flight if they would only submit to questioning from the FBI. The cases I have heard they have just been turned down flat, no explanation, no reconsideration. So it is possible that even if these two American Citizens do answer the FBI's questions to their satisfaction, they STILL might not be allowed to come back by air.