Advice from a Good Ol' Boy

Perhaps I missed it, but it’s hard in the Middle East obsessed media to find any substantive information about what Bush really said to Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. The Lebanese seem to be spinning as fast as they can:

As the crisis entered its third day, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora met in Beirut with ambassadors from the United Nations Security Council and spoke with President Bush by telephone, the prime minister’s office said.

According to a statement from Siniora, “President Bush affirmed his readiness to put pressure on Israel to limit the damage to Lebanon as a result of the current military action, and to spare civilians from harm,” The Associated Press reported. The Bush administration did not comment on the conversation.

I’m hardly surprised. More likely it ran like this: “Seems to me, Mr. Prime Minister, that half of your country was being run by a homocidal maniac cult. I’d be glad to have someone come in and clean that up if I were you…. Now, you go say anything you want for public consumption, but just sit back and relax and let things happen. Comprende, amigo?”