US President George W Bush said here on Monday that he was sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to 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 (G8) 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 "Condi's going to go pretty soon". He did not specify where, but she was expected to go to 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 she's 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 stop doing this shit, and it's over," Bush replied without specifying who "they" were.
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 cease-fire by itself will resolve the conflict.