It may well turn out, as the Saudi government insists, that thousands of dollars sent by the wife of Riyadh's ambassador to Washington to associates of two 9/11 hijackers were mere acts of charity - and not intended to fund terrorism

But it's a measure of the duplicitous game on terrorism that Saudi rulers have been playing for years - the "Faustian bargain to keep themselves in power," as Sen. John McCain rightly put it - that no one outside the State Department is giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Nor did it help that the Saudis, through one of their official newspapers, quickly blamed the latest uproar on "circles linked to the Zionist lobby."

Newsweek magazine reports this week that Princess Haifa al-Faisal, daughter of the late King Faisal and wife of Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan, sent thousands in monthly payments to Saudi students who were vocal al Qaeda supporters and who later befriended two of the Saudis who hijacked a plane and sent it crashing into the Pentagon on 9/11.

Saudi officials maintain the payments were among many the princess has made to help "needy Saudi families living in the United States." But it follows a long history of payments in which, as Sen. Joe Biden said Sunday, "the Saudis don't know, have not checked, are not nearly conscientious enough in determining whether or not a ‘charity' is genuinely a charity or a front for, or a back door for, terrorists or terrorist-sympathizing organizations or individuals."

Indeed, a recent Council on Foreign Relations task force determined that Saudi Arabia has been "the most important source of funds for al Qaeda" - and that Washington has always treated the kingdom "with kid gloves because of its economic and strategic importance."

Now, however, there's a bipartisan rush on Capitol Hill demanding a probe of Saudi government links to terrorism and the refusal of U.S. agencies to press Riyadh closely on its ties to Osama bin Laden.

While the FBI, for example, says it found no direct links between the two recipients of Princess Haifa's money and the 9/11 attacks, Saudi officials were markedly uncooperative - as usual - with the investigation.

Indeed, the two students were spirited out of the country before they could be questioned - and Riyadh now maintains that their whereabouts are unknown.

Moreover, three of Princess Haifa's brothers have been named as defendants in that racketeering and unlawful death lawsuit filed against top Saudis by relatives of 9/11 victims; each has reportedly funneled money to al Qaeda in a bid to keep Osama bin Laden's murderers out of the Saudi kingdom.

If President Bush is to make good on his vow to "starve the terrorists of funding," he and his administration cannot go on turning a blind eye to the deceitful game being played by the House of Saud.

The princes may want to play both sides of the terrorism game, but America can't let them get away with it.