About our wonderful President...

Mideast crisis drives Bush to colorful language

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - A microphone picked up an unaware
President Bush saying on Monday Syria should press Hezbollah to "stop
doing this shit" and that his secretary of state may go to the Middle
East soon.

Bush was talking privately to British Prime Minister
Tony Blair during a lunch at the Group of Eight summit in St Petersburg
about an upsurge of violence in the Middle East, not realizing a
microphone was recording what he said.

"I think Condi (Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice) is going to go pretty soon," Bush said.

Blair replied: "Right, that's all that matters, it will take some time to get that together."

The two leaders also referred to an offer by Blair to help. Blair said Rice has "got to succeed" if she goes out to the region.

Bush
replied: "What they need to do it to get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop
doing this shit." Shortly afterwards Blair noticed the microphone and
hastily switched it off, but not before the recording had reached news
media.

Much of the G8 summit has been devoted to discussing the
Middle East crisis centering on Lebanese Hezbollah militant attacks on
Israel and Israeli bombing of Lebanon. Washington and its allies say
Hezbollah is backed by Syria.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.