Bush and Blair on the phone (transcript): "SH!T"

Bush Swears By Hezbollah

Updated: 12:55, Monday July 17, 2006

President George Bush has been heard using foul language while talking to Tony Blair about the conflict in the Middle East.

Mr Bush failed to realise his remarks were being picked up by a microphone at a summit of world leaders.

He bluntly expressed his frustration with the actions of Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

"See, the irony is, what they really need to do is to get Syria to get Hizbollah to stop doing this s**t," Mr Bush told Mr Blair in a discussion before a G8 summit lunch.

Mr Bush's remarks were recorded by the summit's closed-circuit television, which was filming the leaders sitting down to eat.

Normally, the images are transmitted with sound that does not allow reporters to pick out individual comments.

But in this case, a microphone clearly recorded the expletive.

The Prime Minister, whose remarks were not as distinct, appeared to be pressing Mr Bush about the importance of getting international peacekeepers into the region.