Despite the best efforts of the Bush administration to push the Saudi connections out of sight, and a lot of sanctimonious bluster from the Saudi royal family about the kingdom's innocence, the Congressional report on the terror attacks contains important information that should be pursued. 

The critical investigative leads involve Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi student who gave money to two Saudi men who participated in the hijackings. While living in the San Diego area three years ago, Mr. Bayoumi was flush with money coming from Saudi Arabia. He helped cover the expenses of Khalid Almidhar and Nawaq Alhazmi, who later took over American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon. Mr. Bayoumi may have befriended the men without knowing of their terror connections, but he should be thoroughly questioned by American investigators. That is not possible as long as he is shielded by the authorities in Saudi Arabia, where he is now believed to reside. 

If the Saudi royal family cares to live up to its public commitments to assist the United States in unraveling the Sept. 11 plot, it will turn Mr. Bayoumi over to the F.B.I. for questioning. It should also make a full accounting of the financial gifts that the wife of the Saudi ambassador in Washington made to a Saudi family in San Diego, money that eventually found its way to some of the hijackers. 

The White House, for its part, should agree to the declassification of a 28-page section of the Congressional report that deals with foreign governments' involvement in the attacks. These pages are said to describe how senior Saudi officials funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to charitable and other groups that may have helped finance the terrorist operation. 

Saudi Arabia is itself a target of Al Qaeda's terrorism, as this spring's bombings in Riyadh demonstrated. That is all the more reason for the kingdom to work with Washington to defeat Al Qaeda. It has the perfect opportunity to do so now by producing Mr. Bayoumi.