"Don't be fooled into backing Anwar, US warned," said the heading in The Star.

"Washington boleh tertipu kali ketiga jika sokong Anwar," warned Utusan Malaysia.

The headlines must surely have caught the eye of those who read yesterday's edition of the two newspapers.

The stories themselves (courtesy of the ever-vigilant news agency Bernama make for very interesting reading.

Based on a commentary piece published by the Washington Times on Wednesday, Bernama widely quotes the article, which was written by Amy Ridenour, president of the National Center for Public Policy Research, which claims to be a non-partisan American think tank.

I urge readers to read Ridenour's full [#1]article[/#].

In essence, Ridenour warns the US government that "it would be dangerous to be fooled again" by supporting former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, after being burnt twice before in backing Iran and Afghanistan.

Sadly, the only ones that have been fooled are Bernama, The Star and Utusan.

If they had even cared to do a background check, these venerable news organisations would have found out that the claims of non-partisanship by the National Center for Public Policy Research was a lie, which is evident in the papers and articles that the organisation regularly churns out, the contents of which are indistinguishable from current Republican thought.

As for the Washington Times, let's just say that it is owned by the Unification Church, which is led by Reverand Sung Myung Moon.

In addition, has anyone ever wondered why it seems that hardly anyone carries stories from the once mighty United Press International (UPI) anymore?

The Unification Church owns that too.