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How Khalid Learned his ABCs-Educated in the U.S.A.
National Review ^ | 3-4-03 | Michelle Malkin

Posted on 03/04/2003 5:50:59 AM PST by SJackson

March 3, 2003, 1:45 p.m.
How Khalid Learned his ABCs
Educated in the U.S.A.

By Michelle Malkin

or the deaths of thousands of innocent Americans and other victims of Islamist terrorism around the world, we can partly thank money-grubbing, diversity-seeking college officials right here in the U.S.A.

Lower academic standards at an American college helped newly captured al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed acquire the tools of the terrorist trade. In the early 1980s, he enrolled at tiny Chowan College in Murfreesburo, N.C. Why there? Because, as the Los Angeles Times reported in a recent Mohammed profile: "Chowan did not require the standardized English proficiency exam then widely mandated for international students. Foreign enrollees often spent a semester or two at Chowan, improved their English and transferred to four-year universities. By 1984, Chowan had a sizable contingent of Middle Easterners."

Chowan College's website now says that international students must score a minimum 500 (out of 677) on the standardized written Test of English as a Foreign Language. But it is still typical at many colleges and universities that accept large numbers of full-tuition-paying foreign students to waive the minimum English-proficiency requirement if students agree to take English as a Second Language courses on campus or an approved institutions (another nice boondoggle).

At Chowan, Mohammed bonded with other Arab Muslim foreign students known as "The Mullahs" for their religious zeal. Alumni say "The Mullahs" kept to themselves and shunned their American counterparts. So much for the vaunted diversity benefits of cultural exchange ("We take great pride in the wonderful relationships developed with our international students," crows Chowan's Office of Enrollment Services.)

Mohammed then transferred to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he earned his degree in mechanical engineering along with 30 other Muslims. Also studying engineering at North Carolina A&T at the time was Mazen Al-Najjar, the brother-in-law of indicted University of South Florida professor and suspected Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist fundraiser Sami Al-Arian.

While in North Carolina, Khalid Mohammed may have had contact with Ali A. Mohamed, another key bin Laden operative who enrolled at an officer-training course for green berets at Fort Bragg in 1981 and gathered intelligence for al Qaeda as a U.S. Army sergeant before being convicted of participating in the African-embassy bombing plot.

According to intelligence officials, Mohammed applied his American education to organize the 1993 World Trade Center bombing plot (six Americans dead), the U.S.S. Cole attack (17 American soldiers dead), and the September 11 attacks (3,000 dead). He has also been linked to the 1998 African-embassy bombings (212 dead, including 12 Americans), the plot to kill the pope, the murder last year of American journalist Daniel Pearl, and the Bali nightclub bomb blast last fall that killed nearly 200 tourists last fall, including two more Americans.

Elite U.S. colleges and universities continue to help train students from America's most hostile enemy countries. Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Sudan — all official state sponsors of terrorism — sent nearly 10,000 students to the U.S. on academic visas between 1991 and 1996 alone. In the 2000-2001 school year, Mohammed's native Kuwait sent a total of 3,045 undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate, and other students to the U.S. His adopted homeland, Pakistan, sent nearly 7,000 students here. Osama bin Laden's native Saudi Arabia sent more than 5,000 students. Mohamed Atta's native Egypt sent nearly 2,300.

Between 1989 and 1995, nearly 100 Middle Easterners paid bribes to community-college teachers and administrators in San Diego — the home base for at least two September 11 hijackers — in exchange for counterfeit admission papers and grades, which allowed them to get student visas. The mastermind of the scheme, Iranian-American businessman Sam Koutchesfahani, pled guilty to visa fraud in 1998, along with officials from six colleges. The whereabouts of his "students," who poured a total of $350,000 into the plot, remain unknown.

Last spring, federal prosecutors cracked down on a student-visa fraud ring involving 130 foreigners accused of paying substitutes to take English-language proficiency exams to meet their visa requirements. Nearly 60 Middle Eastern men and women in 13 states were arrested, including Saudi national Saleh Ali Almari, who was found in possession of flight-training manuals, a bioterrorism textbook, videotapes titled "Incredible Air Disasters" and "Incredible Water Disasters," and a fake passport issued by Qatar. He came here on a student visa and enrolled at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, in the fall of 2000, but never took classes. He and eight other students pled guilty to fraud last summer. Most of the rest of the fraud suspects, it was reported this week, have been released on bond.

How many more Khalid Mohammeds have America's colleges and universities coddled in the name of multiculturalism and profit?

— Michelle Malkin, a syndicated columnist, is author of the recently released Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 03/04/2003 5:51:00 AM PST by SJackson
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To: SJackson
Here's another article about Khalid at A&T
2 posted on 03/04/2003 5:54:56 AM PST by AppyPappy (Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.)
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To: SJackson
Ms. Malkin: Great job as usual.
3 posted on 03/04/2003 5:55:59 AM PST by UncleSamUSA (the land of the free and the home of the brave)
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To: SJackson
Still another argument in favor of much more stringent review and screening of legal immigrants and tracking of resident foreign nationals, as well as strict control of those who would enter by extra-legal means.

The rewards of American citizenship are to be enjoyed by American citizens. Protection of personal dignity and property is extended to legal visitors who come here. Those who abuse the rights and privileges deserve no less than expulsion. Doesn't matter if they have no country to return to, we will cheerfully set them adrift in a rowboat in the middle of the North Atlantic.
4 posted on 03/04/2003 6:01:37 AM PST by alloysteel
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To: SJackson
Most of the rest of the fraud suspects, it was reported this week, have been released on bond.

What is wrong with this country? Do the powers-that-be have a death wish for America?

5 posted on 03/04/2003 6:03:33 AM PST by DumpsterDiver
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To: SJackson
Michelle Malkin is sharper than a box full of tacks. Thanks for posting her article!
6 posted on 03/04/2003 6:04:27 AM PST by auboy
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To: SJackson
Michelle Malkin-BUMP!
This kind of information just doesn't get enough attention.

7 posted on 03/04/2003 6:04:31 AM PST by InShanghai (Saddam will eat pork!)
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To: SJackson
Any is too many. Expulsion from the Institution and the United States is but part of the answer. Prosecution of the coddlers is the second part of the answer. There are many other parts but I must go now.
8 posted on 03/04/2003 6:05:31 AM PST by Conspiracy Guy (RW&B)
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To: thinden; Fred Mertz; honway
FYI

OU in Norman has a large contingent of ME students as well, and the so-called "20th hijacker" was close to many of them.
9 posted on 03/04/2003 6:09:51 AM PST by MizSterious
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To: MizSterious; OKCSubmariner
Thanks for the flag.

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While in North Carolina, Khalid Mohammed may have had contact with Ali A. Mohamed, another key bin Laden operative who enrolled at an officer-training course for green berets at Fort Bragg in 1981 and gathered intelligence for al Qaeda as a U.S. Army sergeant before being convicted of participating in the African-embassy bombing plot.

10 posted on 03/04/2003 7:13:01 AM PST by honway
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To: DumpsterDiver
"Do the powers-that-be have a death wish for America?"

"Liberals" certainly do, and American universities are hotbeds of "Liberalism".

11 posted on 03/04/2003 7:29:32 AM PST by Savage Beast
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To: DumpsterDiver
What is wrong with this country? Do the powers-that-be have a death wish for America?

Maybe they are being tailed
We can only hope so
12 posted on 03/04/2003 8:40:29 AM PST by uncbob ( building tomorrow)
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To: InShanghai
Hey now... she's a cute one, too.
13 posted on 03/04/2003 8:41:16 AM PST by DeuceTraveler
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