As I have reported since 2005, the Bush administration has endangered the American public by welcoming college students from Saudi Arabia to study at US universities. It’s bad enough that these foreign students are taking slots that could go to worthy young citizens, but the policy is clearly a national security threat. Now, President Bush and his Saudi pals want more.

Al-JOUF, 10 April 2008 — US Ambassador Ford Fraker said in Sakaka that his country aims to double the number of student visas issued to Saudis.

“Currently there are 15,000 Saudi students in the US,” he said during an event on Sunday with local business leaders to an audience at the Al-Jouf Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “We aim to increase their numbers to 30,000 over the next five years.”
[US to Double Visas for Saudi Students, Arab News, April 10, 2008]

Muslim students have already been involved in terror plots, for example Egyptian nationals attending the University of South Florida, Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed and Youssef Samir Megahed. They were charged last August with possessing explosive devices: 2 Charged With Pipe Bombs Near Navy Base.

A well known criminal was in fact a Saudi student, namely Homaidan Al-Turki, who was pursuing a PhD in Colorado. Though not convicted as a terrorist, he was sentenced in 2006 to 20 years to life for slavery. He forced an Indonesian woman to work as a nanny in his house for years, held her passport and sexually abused her.

At sentencing, al-Turki played the cultural victimization card, saying “The state has criminalized these basic Muslim behaviors. Attacking traditional Muslim behaviors was the focal point of the prosecution.”

He continues to whine from prison on his personal website, HomaidanAlTurki.com. (You can drop him a line about American values at alturki.mr@gmail.com)

So even when Saudis residing in America don’t commit terrorism, many believe that they can act as they please and break American law — including the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which ended slavery.

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 to open America up to 20,000 students over four years. (See my 2005 blog Saudi Students Coming to a College near You.)

Interestingly, the slant of this NBC-produced article (More students from Islamic nations allowed in U.S., 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 (several of them) were not turned from the dark side by learning about the Enlightenment and Constitution. Ringleader Mohammed Atta had a degree in architecture and worked professionally in Germany. Pilot Ziad Jarrah 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 against women.

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

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!

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers flew to Saudi Arabia this past week to “explain” how Homaidan Al-Turki came to be sentenced to state prison for slavery-related charges. (Saudis officially outlawed slavery in the 1960s, but old habits are hard to break, apparently.)

Say, don’t the citizens of Colorado require Mr. Suthers’ time and attention? Don’t we have a State Department to deal with foreign relations, and isn’t Condi paid the big bucks to hold hands with the Saudi royals in Bush’s stead?

But when the Saudi overlords squawk, the Bush government jumps [Suthers reassures Saudis, Rocky Mountain News, 11/18/06].

Suthers sat knee-to-knee for an hour with King Abdullah and also met with Crown Prince Sultan, Saudi journalists and relatives of Al-Turki during his weeklong trip to the capital city of Riyadh, Deputy Attorney General Jason Dunn said Friday.

“There was a lot of public attention in Saudi Arabia on this case,” Dunn said, adding that “misperceptions” there about the U.S. judicial system and Colorado in particular convinced U.S. officials that the highly unusual trip was warranted.

In June, Al-Turki was convicted in Arapahoe County of 12 counts of unlawful sexual contact with force, one count of theft of services over $15,000, false imprisonment and conspiracy. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

The Saudis apparently believe they can live in this country and not be subject to its laws. Al-Turki declared at trial that he was innocent, and the Saudi royals took up his cause, even though Saudis admit they are habitual liars. Islam accepts lying to infidels anyway, a practice known as Taqiyya.

It should concern all Americans that visas given to Saudis doubled in number in just the past year, for increased Saudi students and for other purposes from tourism to medical care.

As Lily Tomlin remarked, “No matter how cynical I get, it’s hard to keep up,” a sentiment which I’m sure many Vdare.com readers share.

My personal cynicism kicked up a notch when I learned that Washington is on board for welcoming thousands of Saudi students to American colleges and universities ["More Saudi Students in U.S."].

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 - Urgently trying to improve relations with the United States, the Saudi Arabian government has been promoting a scholarship program that has more than doubled the number of Saudi enrollments at American colleges and universities since last year.

The program, aimed in part at reducing widespread hostility in the Saudi public toward the United States, has reversed a steady plunge in Saudi students here that started immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The Saudi government offered 5,000 students full four-year scholarships, complete with living allowances. About two-thirds of the 5,000 students enrolled in American schools this fall, the State Department said, and the number would have been higher had the United States been able to process all the visa requests.

See? The Saudi government has an itch, and the State Department asks “Where should I scratch?”

In general, Washington loves foreign students because it believes educating them accomplishes policy goals on the cheap.

No one in Washington bothered to ask American citizens whether they want potentially murderous Saudis filling local campuses. Fifteen of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis, so one might ask how well these students are vetted. Apparently not thoroughly, since the office help has thinned as a result of five staffers being gunned down during an al Qaeda attack against the Jeddah consulate last December.

Furthermore, a November Senate hearing focused on “Saudi Arabia: Friend or Foe in the War on Terror? “ The upshot was that the Saudis are the same terrorist piggy bank they ever were, funding anti-American extremist Islamic publications and other Wahhabi aid.

So the Saudis have not cleaned up their act, and are being rewarded to the detriment of Americans — let’s drink to cynicism!