SAINT PETERSBURG: US President George W. Bush said on Monday that he was sending US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the Middle East "soon" and that militants attacking Israel must "stop doing this shit."
He just didn't know that anyone could hear him.
But an open microphone at the Group of Eight summit leaders lunch captured every word as he and British Prime Minister Tony Blair candidly hashed over global events.
Bush, chomping on a piece of bread and calling for a diet Coke, confided that "Condis going to go pretty soon." He did not specify where, but she was expected to go to the Middle East when a UN team returns later this week.
Blair offered to go himself if "she needs the ground prepared as it were," explaining that the stakes for him would be lower: "If she goes out shes got to succeed, as it were, whereas I can just go out and talk. The irony is, what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it's over," Bush replied without specifying who "they" are.
The president's remarks were caught at the G8 summit's official television network, which filmed the leaders having lunch.
The recording picked up as Bush, apparently expected to make remarks, declared: "I'm just going to make it up. I'm not going to talk too damn long like the rest of them. Some of these guys talk too long."
The president and Blair also seemed to express frustration about UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, with Bush suggesting that Annan thinks that a ceasefire by itself will resolve the conflict.
"What about Kofi Annan? I dont like the sequence of it. His attitude is basically ceasefire and everything else happens," said Bush.
"What does he think? He thinks if Lebanon turns out fine, if he gets a solution in Israel and Palestine, Iraq goes in the right way, hes done it. Thats what this whole things about. Its the same with Iran," added Blair.
But Blair also cautioned that "the thing that is really difficult is you can't stop this unless you get this international presence agreed," an apparent reference to the G8 leaders' call for UN consideration of an international security force in Lebanon.
And Bush said he wanted to tell "Kofi to get on the phone with (Syrian President Bashar al) Assad and make something happen. Were not blaming Israel and were not blaming the Lebanese government."
After Blair told him that he's working "on this trade thing" -- presumably stalled global trade talks -- Bush expressed concern: "I just want some movement. Yesterday I didnt see much movement. The desire to move."
Bush also made quite a bit of small talk with other leaders about how long it takes to get home after a summit like this.
"I gotta leave by 2:15. They want me out of town so they can free up your security forces," he said, apparently to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was not seen.
"This is your neighborhood -- doesnt take you long to get home," he told another leader, who was off camera. "Russias a big country, youre a big country," he told another. "Gotta go home. Got something to do tonight."
