President Bush lied, says Mahathir

[Snellius]

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.

'I think he wants to support his officer,' he added, alluding to White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

Mr McClellan told reporters last Monday that President George W. Bush had pulled Dr Mahathir aside at a Bangkok summit to rebuke him for his anti-Semitic remarks. A day later the Malaysian PM insisted it did not happen.

But Mr Bush told reporters afterwards that he had indeed put the point across to Dr Mahathir personally that he thought the comments about Jews were 'reprehensible'.

Yesterday, Dr Mahathir not only accused Mr Bush of having told the 'biggest lie', he also noted pointedly that someone who could have lied about the existence of weapons of mass destruction could also lie about what was said to him.

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