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Mikes capture candid Bush moment
By UPI Staff
United Press International
July 18, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush, unaware nearby microphone was on, said Syria should press Hezbollah to "stop doing this (expletive)" and resolve the Mideast crisis.

Speaking to British Prime Minister Tony Blair before the Group of Eight leaders' working lunch near St. Petersburg, Bush said: "See the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this (expletive) and it's over," he said, according to a transcript provided by CNN.

He added that he felt like urging U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who was present in St. Petersburg Monday "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."

Bush also said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may visit the Lebanon soon.

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