Educating Terrorists
Germany’s recruitment of foreign scholars.

n 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.