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Thursday, German federal prosecutors launched a formal criminal
probe into 27-year-old Mounir El-Mostassadeq, a Moroccan student
suspected of having bankrolled the September 11th plane hijackers
on behalf of al Qaeda.
Mostassadeq's
arrest Wednesday in Hamburg marks the first time German law enforcement
has taken into custody an individual believed to have been directly
connected to the September 11 terrorist attacks. Just as importantly,
the move brings to four the number of confirmed or suspected al
Qaeda members known to have studied at Hamburg's Technical University
in the 1990s. Mohammed Atta, the presumed leader of the September
11 hijackers, had enrolled there in the early 1990s. Marwan Al Shehhi
and Ziad Jarrah, who also took part in the attacks, had also studied
at the "TU." The dwelling Al Shehhi and Atta shared was
located only a few blocks away from where police arrested Mostassadeq.
A noteworthy
paradox is that four Middle Eastern students who had spent years
nurturing a virulent hatred of the Western world ended up studying
in Germany. The federal republic does not have an immigration law.
In fact, it is moving slowly, at best, to enact yearly immigration
quotas even as it strongly encourages students from developing countries
to enroll at its universities.
Reticence to enact an immigration policy worthy of that name stems
from widespread fears of giving far-right, xenophobic parties a
chance for a surge at the polls. No one has forgotten the neo-Nazi
attacks on asylum-seekers' hostels, which shook the country in between
1991 and 1993. Yet, the 100,000 foreign students make up 5 percent
of Germany's university population and the government plans to help
double that number in the next few years.
In fact, Germany's
aggressive pursuit of foreign scholars perfectly suits cultural
conservatives, who believe educating the Third World's best and
brightest is the surest way to promote economic development and
thus prevent immigration. It also has the favor of pro-business
conservatives who, allied to the ruling center-left coalition, argue
for more qualified foreign scholars, the sooner the better.
Corporate Germany
insists the federal republic needs as many qualified foreign electrical
engineers and computer scientists as it can get to preserve its
status as a technological giant. For years now it has deplored both
a lack of homegrown scientists and the inability of universities
to train them. Supporters and opponents of immigration disagree
on whether foreign students should be permitted to stay once they
have graduated. No one, however, objects to their earning their
degrees in the federal republic in the first place.
How, then,
did Mohammed Atta support himself while in Hamburg? His mere association
with Osama bin Laden is enough to suggest money was never a problem.
In fact, investigators believe his "treasurer," Mounir
El-Mostassadeq, regularly dipped into his Hamburg bank account to
send Atta increments ranging in value from $1,000 to $2,200. Had
Atta needed financial support, however, Germany, again, would
have been there to help. Although labor laws severely limit foreign
students' ability to work in the federal republic, the German Academic
Exchange Service, a government-funded institute, helps more than
20,000, one-fifth of the total, with comfortable monthly living
stipends. An application by Atta, by all accounts a studious and
focused individual, would likely have wowed any scholarship committee.
So, what will
happen now? Police have, since September 11, conducted background
checks on some Middle Eastern students. Yet, there is nothing to
suggest Germany will tell its university presidents to stop "thinking
internationally" by recruiting foreign scholars. Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder was, in fact, touting the merits of German universities
on a recent visit to India in late October.
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