Saudi Students: They Keep Coming!

How does Washington willfully endanger the American people? Let me count the ways! Admitting potential enemies remains popular at the State Department.

One impaired idea that has existed largely below the MSM radar is the post-9/11 welcome of many thousands of college students from Islamic nations, particularly Saudi Arabia. GW Bush acquiesced to his Saudi pals [1] to open America up to 20,000 students over four years. (See my 2005 blog Saudi Students Coming to a College near You [2].)

Interestingly, the slant of this NBC-produced article (More students from Islamic nations allowed in U.S. [3], Deep Background, Feb 15, 2008) is upbeat about the effect of young Muslims being educated in the west. However, the 9/11 hijackers who had such educations [4] (several of them) were not turned from the dark side by learning about the Enlightenment and Constitution. Ringleader Mohammed Atta [5] had a degree in architecture and worked professionally in Germany. Pilot Ziad Jarrah [6] attended a private Catholic school in Beirut as a boy.

The State Department has been steadily increasing the number of visas granted to students and visitors from three Islamic nations -nations with connections to the Sept. 11 attacks and to al-Qaida, according to an NBC News survey of U.S. visa data.

Many counterterrorism experts welcome the increase in visas to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan, arguing that exposure to American culture outweighs any possible risk from prospective terrorists.

Beside the obvious terror threat, another problem has been the bad behavior of Saudi students, particularly crummy driving and sexual harassment [7] against women.

However, The Kingdom is dealing forthrightly with these difficulties: the ever fascinating Arab News [8] reported, Saudi Students Taught How to Behave in Host Countries [9].

JEDDAH, 27 January 2008 — Over 3,000 students from Jeddah, who are going abroad as part of the King Abdullah Scholarship Program, which is in its third year, attended a four-day orientation course offering them educational tips and how to behave in their host countries. [...]

It also transpired that the bad attitude of students last year caused many to cut short their studies and that 71 students were forced to return from the US, 13 from New Zealand and five from Malaysia.

Phew! Diversity sure is a lot of work!