WASHINGTON, 18 July 2006 — It wasn’t meant to be overheard, but yesterday a private luncheon conversation picked up by a microphone provided a rare window into both banter and substance: President George Bush cursing Hezbollah’s attacks against Israel.
An open microphone at the Group of Eight summit during lunch in St. Petersburg captured every word as Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair candidly discussed global events.
Unaware of the live feed, Bush said Syria should press Hezbollah to “stop doing this shit” and that his secretary of state may go to the Middle East soon. Blair eventually noticed the microphone was on and hastily switched it off, but not before the recording had reached news media. Much of the G-8 summit has been devoted to discussing the Middle East crisis centering on Lebanese Hezbollah attacks on Israel and Israeli bombings of Lebanon.
“The irony is, what they really need to do is to get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it’s over,” Bush was heard to say.
Murhaf Jouejati, director of Mideast Studies at George Washington University, had more to say about the implications of Bush’s comment than on the profanity used.
“What astonished me most is that President Bush wants Hezbollah to lay down its arms and stop attacking,” said Jouejati. “That statement is embedded in idiocy. If US diplomacy in the region has failed, it is because the US wants to be the judge, jury and executioner. The US is no longer an honest broker — if it ever was. It is a party to the conflict because of its complete support to Israel. It said Israel has the right to self-defense, but omits the other half that other states have the right to self-defense, too.” Also during the luncheon, Bush told Blair he was planning on sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice into the region.
“Condi’s going to go pretty soon,” he said, but did not specify where. She was expected to go to the Middle East when a UN team returns later this week.
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 heads to the region.
The recording also picked up Bush, apparently expected to make remarks, saying: “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.”
Bush also expressed frustration yesterday at attempts to get UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to do more to end the conflict in Lebanon.
Earlier in the day, Blair and Annan called for the deployment of an international force in southern Lebanon, in order to end the spiraling conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
The president and Blair also seemed to express frustration about Annan, suggesting that Annan thinks that a cease-fire by itself will resolve the conflict.
“What about Kofi Annan? I don’t like the sequence of it. His attitude is basically cease-fire and everything else happens,” said Bush.
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 G-8 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) Assad and make something happen. We’re not blaming Israel and we’re not blaming the Lebanese government.”
