81,000 Saudi Students in Class

The Wall Street Journal’s Miriam Jordan wrote a piece on international students in America. You might be surprised to learn that today there are 81,000 students from Saudi Arabia studying in America. That’s up from only 5,000 in 2001. Remember, 15 of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, and one, according to the 9/11 Commission Report, was on a student visa. That student, Hani Hanjour, piloted American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon, killing 184 innocent people and wounding 106 more.

The bulk of the 81,000 Saudi students in America may be model citizens. But according to polling reported by CNN, 30% of Saudis support fighting against the U.S. in Iraq, 37% support Hamas, and 38% support Hizbollah. Both are designated foreign terrorist organizations. It is impossible to believe, given mathematics, that some of the 81,000 students from Saudi Arabia don’t harbor some ill will toward the U.S.

The number of Saudi students in the U.S. has skyrocketed since 2005 when then King Abdullah created a scholarship fund to send more of them to America. That fund was intended to be short term, but has been extended to 2020. Since then, the number of Saudi students at American colleges and universities has skyrocketed. At least one of the fund’s beneficiaries, Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism in the U.S.