In Tuesday's column, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman sought to defend himself against charges of anti-Semitism and distance himself Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Well, Mahathir let the cat out of the bag when he told reporters that Bush lied -- a theme common throughout the majority of Krugman's writings.

THE President of the United States lied.

That was Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's latest riposte in the continuing exchange over whether he was ticked off by the American leader over his remarks that Jews ruled the world.

"It's the biggest lie. If he had rebuked me, I'm quite sure I would have rebuked him also," the combative Malaysian leader told reporters here after arriving home from Papua New Guinea yesterday.

Mahathir's answer tells you, more than any New York Times column, about the link between the anti-Semitic leader of Malaysia and America's most dangerous liberal columnist.