Watch Out for Saudi Charm Offensive

I recently criticized Washington for welcoming thousands of young Saudis [1] to be students in American colleges and universities as another tedious prostration to the terror-funding sheiks [2] holding the oil spigot. The Saudis are planning on sending over 20,000 [3] over the next four years.

As it happens, not everyone in the Kingdom [4] is happy with the set-up either. A recent opinion piece ["Sending Teens Abroad" [5]] in the ever fascinating Arab News [6] contained some revealing insights into the Saudi character.

Honesty is not a Saudi value, it seems. (Not surprising, given that Islam encourages the acceptance of lying [7] in the service of Allah, known as taqiyya [8], so it's not much of a stretch for untruths to extend into other areas of life.)

Some of our students even lie in their responses and are proud of it. These students, used to lying to officials in the Kingdom, can fall easily to American justice when they lie or provide false information to US officials.

One of the bad habits that our students take with them when they go abroad is the culture of sexual harassment [9]. They cannot take this culture to America. American woman can easily report sexual harassment to authorities. Saudis that engage in sexual harassment can end up arrested, charged, jailed, and deported. In this system that often sides with the woman in sexual harassment cases, what do you think happens when the accused is an Arab?

The rest of the article further notes that young Saudi males are accustomed to using political pull to get out of trouble and are terrible drivers!
America's campus communities should prepare themselves accordingly. Seatbelts and pepper spray [10]would be a good start.