After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the number of students from Saudi Arabia dwindled in the United States.

In the wake of the revelation that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals, the number of new students arriving in the United States plummeted from more than 4,000 in 2001 to 1,008 in 2005, according to the U.S. State Department.

But a program initiated by President Bush and Saudi King Abdullah has brought about 10,000 new students to U.S. colleges during the current academic year, bringing the number of Saudi students for the fall semester of 2006 to 10,936.

The previous high mark for Saudis studying in the United States was 10,440, in the 1980-'81 school year, according to the International Institute of Education, a New York-based nonprofit group.

An additional 3,000 Saudi students are expected for the semester beginning in January. Most of the Saudi students are fully funded by scholarships from their government.

Nail Al-Jubeir, spokesman for the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, D.C., said the leaders of the two nations are committed to reversing the recent trend of Saudi students staying out of the United States.

"Hopefully, the goal is to get something like 20,000 in the United States in all fields," Al-Jubeir said.

In August 2006, 283 Saudi students were enrolled in Illinois institutions of higher learning, Al-Jubeir said. Southern Illinois University at Carbondale had the most with 56, followed by Western Illinois University with 45. Figures on other Illinois universities were not available.

University of Illinois officials declined to comment on the number of students at the Champaign-Urbana campus; a Saudi graduate student at the U of I estimated there are about 33 Saudi students there.

Al-Jubeir, who came to the United States with his family in the 1970s, said the Saudi students throughout the United States have been received very warmly.

"From all the 10,000-plus students, we have not received any complaints," said Al-Jubeir, 43, who calls himself a product of the Saudi scholarship program of the 1980s. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees at American University in Washington, D.C.

Enjoying student life

Ahmed Alabbadi, 27, a native of "the holy city of Mecca," recently completed two years of studies at the U of I, where he is completing his master's in economics.

Alabaddi said he has wanted to come to the United States since he watched American movies and TV shows as a child, learning some English watching "Sesame Street." More recently, he decided to come to improve his English skills and obtain a first-rate education.

Alabaddi had first planned to come to America in 2001, but when "this horrible incident happened" on 9/11, it halted his plans. He and his family agreed that he should not go because of safety considerations. One Saudi student returned home and told Saudi TV viewers he had been arrested in the United States and imprisoned, stripped, sprayed with water and denied legal counsel.

"That scared everybody," Alabaddi recalled, adding that other students said nothing bad happened to them.

Alabaddi, a thoughtful young man, said the interesting thing about America is you get to see people from everywhere.

"I've got the chance to appreciate everybody, their skills, their contributions, I mean as a peer, as a colleague and as fellow students," he said. "It's quite interesting to see friendships evolve between someone from the Phillipines and China and another one from Algeria. This exposure to an international community is so overwhelming."

Alabaddi's friend, Salah Alsayaary, 27, said when his employer, Central Bank of Saudi Arabia, offered to send him to America to study, his parents were concerned for his safety. But he prevailed, coming first to Oregon for a year to study English. He will complete a two-year master's program in economics next semester.

Alsayaary, a warm, cheerful man, said many Saudis were shocked when they heard their countrymen were involved in 9/11.

"A lot of people didn't believe this for a long time," Alsayaary said. "I was shocked, but then I realized these terrorists want to divide the East from the West. If they involved some Saudis in this, it will cause problems between Saudi Arabia and the United States. They could use any guys from any country, but they wanted to make a bad relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States."

Alsayaary said he appreciates the opportunity for Saudi students to study in America.

"I feel that I have to act as an ambassador of my country, my people," he said.

He believes just a minority of Saudis are opposed to the United States and the West, and very few support al-Qaida.

'Too paranoid'

Terry McDermott, a Los Angeles Times reporter, had to wait two years to receive a visa to Saudi Arabia after 9/11, to gather information for his book on the hijackers, "Perfect Soldiers." He eventually spent six weeks in the country but obtained little information from the Saudi government. His critically acclaimed book focuses mostly on non-Saudis, the exception being Osama Bin Laden.

McDermott said Americans should not be concerned about the influx of Saudi students.

"None of the Saudi hijackers who came in here were students," McDermott said. "It is much harder to get visas now than it was then."

In his book, McDermott quotes a Saudi political scientist who said that the teachings of sheikhs and imams transform some people into human bombs, killing machines. But despite the teachings in some mosques, McDermott said he does not believe that necessitates keeping students from American universities.

"There were more Saudis in America before and none of them turned out to be terrorists," he said. "I don't think closing down the borders of the country is the way to combat terrorism. If people meet the requirements, they should be allowed in. I welcome having more Saudis coming here."

Of the 15 Saudi hijackers, 14 were in the United States for just months before 9/11.

"They were from the hinterlands of Saudi Arabia," McDermott said.

McDermott believes Americans should welcome cultural exchanges such as the Saudi educational program.

"I think we've been too paranoid to a great extent," he said. "I think we need to re-engage the world. There is no such thing as 100 percent security."

Huey Freeman can be reached at hfreeman@herald-review.com or 421-6985.