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Bush and Blair were caught in a candid conversation unbeknownst to them
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July 17, 2006, 17:30
A microphone picked up an unaware George W. Bush, the US president, saying Syria should press Hizbollah to "stop doing this sh*t" and that his secretary of state may go to the Middle East soon.
Bush was talking privately to Tony Blair, the British prime minister, during a lunch at the Group of Eight summit in St Petersburg about an upsurge of violence in the Middle East. Neither immediately realised a microphone was transmitting their candid thoughts on that and other issues.
"I think Condi (Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state) is going to go (to the Middle East) pretty soon," Bush said. Blair replied: "Right, that's all that matters, it will take some time to get that together." Rice said on Sunday she was thinking of going to the region if it would help.
Blair added: "See, if she goes out she's got to succeed as it were, where as I can just go out and talk." Bush replied: "See, the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hizbollah to stop doing this sh*t and it's over."
Making things happen
While his language was salty, the message from Bush was what it had been throughout the summit -that Syria is supporting Hizbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon and should force them to stop shelling Israel and return abducted Israeli soldiers.
US officials believe that if Hizbollah did so, Israel's military strikes on Lebanon might stop. Bush also seemed to complain about Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, wanting an immediate ceasefire to stop the violence between Israel and Hizbollah.
"I don't like the sequence of it," Bush said. "His attitude is basically ceasefire and everything else happens." Blair said: "I think the thing that is really difficult is you can't stop this unless you get this international presence agreed."
A G8 statement yesterday suggested the UN Security Council should consider an international security and monitoring presence on the Lebanon-Israel border, an idea Blair is pushing.
Later, Bush said he felt like telling Annan to telephone Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president "and make something happen".
Nice sweater
The two leaders also appeared to chat about the stalled Doha Round of world trade talks.
"I just want some movement," Bush said, to which Blair replied: "It may be that it's impossible." Later, plans were announced for ministers from six key trade powers to meet in Geneva from today to try to unblock the talks.
Ultimately Blair noticed the microphone and hastily switched it off, but not before the recording had reached news media. In the chummy conversation between long-time allies, Bush teased the British leader about a sweater Blair had apparently given him. - Reuters
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