November 22, 2005

Saudi America?

Next Tuesday, November 29, my story about the new Saudi scholarship program will air on the 700 Club. The program could ensure that thousands of young Saudis will be coming to American universities to study in the next few years. Three reasons right off the bat why this proposition gives me cause for concern: 1) It goes without saying that 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were Saudi natives. 2) One of those Saudi hijackers--Hani Hanjour--used a student visa to enter the United States. 3) Saudi students are raised with Saudi Arabia's official state religion--the ultra-radical strain of Islam known as Wahhabism.

Those who support the notion of more Saudi students coming to the United States argue that exposure to U.S. culture will give the young Saudis a greater appreciation for the American way of life. But as my friend Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a leading counterterrorism consultant based in Washington, D.C., points out, that may be wishful thinking. Daveed points out that 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta stayed briefly with a German host family during his time as a student in that country. Rather than embrace it, Atta recoiled from Western society, horrified by images of scantily-clad bikini models and other excesses. He eventually moved out of the German family's home and began spending more and more time with Muslim immigrants like himself. Richard Miniter discusses Atta's downward spiral in greater detail in his excellent new book, Disinformation: 22 Media Myths That Undermine the War on Terror.

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