Prince Bandar bin Sultan is categorical: It is "absolutely not true," he wrote in a letter to The Wall Street Journal, that Saudi Arabia "is holding Americans against their will." In fact, according to the Saudi ambassador to Washington, there are only 12 child abduction cases involving an American and Saudi parent. And in a similar letter to Indiana Republican Dan Burton, Prince Bandar says that in the high-profile case of Alia and Aisha Gheshayan--two American sisters kidnapped to Saudi Arabia back in 1986--his government "delivered precisely what you and the American media have requested."

But Congressman Burton is equally unequivocal. Addressing his response directly to Crown Prince Abdullah, he says that during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia it became clear that there are many American citizens "who face severe physical abuse, who fear for their lives, and are unable to leave Saudi Arabia due to the policies of the Saudi government." Far from there being only a dozen cases, Mr. Burton says, the real number may be in the hundreds.

Most suspicious of all, the spiriting out of the kingdom of the Gheshayan sisters just as his congressional delegation arrived in Riyadh was, he charges, a deliberate effort "to undermine the delegation's work," one that will have a "chilling effect" on other young Americans.

Plainly one of these men is trying to pass off a whopper. And to Chairman Burton's credit, his House Government Reform Committee tomorrow will air these contradictions in public, in new hearings entitled "Americans Kidnapped to Saudi Arabia: Is the Saudi Government Responsible?"

In addition to testimony from witnesses who will directly challenge all Prince Bandar's assertions, the committee has also subpoenaed Michael Petruzzello, an American PR person who represents the Saudis and whose staffer was involved in the dubious interview in London with the Gheshayan sisters the Saudis arranged last month. Notwithstanding Prince Bandar's assurances, the hearings will underscore the brutal fact that the only American children who've been reunited with their American mothers are those lucky enough to pull off an escape.

"I hope your government takes this seriously," Mr. Burton states in his letter to Crown Prince Abdullah. "The conduct of your government during the delegation's trip to Saudi Arabia, as well as Prince Bandar's letter [to Mr. Burton] suggest otherwise."

No better example of Saudi obstructionism exists than the ham-handed way the Saudis dispatched Alia and Aisha Gheshayan out of the kingdom just as Congressman Burton arrived to try to negotiate a good-faith meeting. For years every request from U.S. officials to bring the women to America to meet with their mother and decide for themselves has met with the same tired Saudi answer: The government cannot dictate to its private citizens where to go.

Yet Prince Bandar would now have us believe that two American women who, so far as anyone knows, have never been out of Saudi Arabia since being taken there by their father, suddenly decide to take a holiday at the precise moment Mr. Burton's delegation arrives in Riyadh. According to the Arab News, the Saudi government even paid for the trip.

It is a familiar pattern, the Saudis vehemently claiming the women hate their mother and have no wish to go to America--but taking extraordinary pains to maintain control and intimidation. During the London interview with a producer from Fox's "The O'Reilly Factor," the Saudis had in the room a paid minder who took notes and even gave the Gheshayan women head signals.

Some holiday. As Congressman Burton put it in his letter, we're asked to believe that a "Saudi government, which refuses to respect the wishes of women when it comes to travel, appearing in court, dress or even driving a car, respects the purported wishes of the [Gheshayan] sisters to refuse to travel to the United States or meet with their mother."

Or what about Amjad Radwan, a 19-year-old American who did finally get permission to leave--but not until personal intervention from the president of the United States? No sooner did she get her her exit visa, than it turned out she'd been recently married off by her Saudi father. The Saudis say that she is free to go, but Miss Radwan's mother says the pressure on her daughter has been intense, with the Saudis telling the frightened 19-year-old that if she got on that plane her father would be punished, and that she could never return, etc.

On top of this, the new husband who materialized out of nowhere signs a letter accusing Congressman Burton of offering Miss Radwan $1 million to get on the plane with him. Prince Saud raised this alleged bribe several times, adding that the couple said they would remain in Saudi Arabia if the Saudis gave them more. Again, note the convenience. The one U.S. politician who's dared to hold the Saudis accountable for what they've done to innocent American women and children finds himself accused of bribery. And Miss Radwan is likewise painted as a gold digger.

This past Sunday evening, Miss Radwan's case came up on CBS's "60 Minutes." When anchor Mike Wallace asked Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudis' point man here, about Miss Radwan, Mr. al-Jubeir insisted he hadn't even heard of her until a month or so ago. Whereupon "60 Minutes" produced a letter about Miss Radwan's case--dated 1988 and signed by Mr. al-Jubeir himself.

At tomorrow's hearings, two more mothers, Joanna Stephenson Tonetti and Margaret McClain, will testify how Prince Bandar's embassy helped kidnap their children to Saudi Arabia, even after being given copies of U.S. court orders making clear the children were not to leave America.

And it will be interesting to square Prince Bandar's claim that "no Americans are being held against their will" with additional testimony by 17-year-old Maha al-Rehaili, who just escaped from her Saudi father during a family trip to Malaysia. The escape was covered by "60 Minutes," and before going to the U.S. Embassy for help Miss al-Rehaili stopped to go on camera where she said she would kill herself if forced to return to Saudi Arabia.

Back in August, when Prince Bandar was invited to George W. Bush's Crawford ranch, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters the president raised these cases with Prince Bandar because he was unhappy that "not enough progress has been made, because people who should be allowed to come back to the United States have not been able to."

Today, not only has Saudi Arabia maintained the dismal status quo, Prince Bandar has upped the ante by directly contradicting the president with his assertion that the kingdom holds no Americans against their will. Maybe it's time President Bush let Prince Bandar know what he means by the word "progress."