Cheney takes the blame

2006-02-16 07:53

Washington - Breaking a four-day silence, United States vice-president Dick Cheney took full responsibility on Wednesday for shooting a fellow hunter last weekend but defended not disclosing the incident immediately.

"I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend, and that's something I'll never forget," he told Fox News Channel in his first public remarks since Saturday's mishap. "It was, I have to say, one of the worst days of my life."

Cheney had come under mounting pressure to speak publicly about how he came to hit Harry Whittington, 78, in the face, neck and chest with a load of birdshot while stalking quail on the south-Texas ranch of Katharine Armstrong.

Whittington, a prominent Texas lawyer and developer, has been in and out of the intensive care ward of a Corpus Christi, Texas, hospital, and suffered a mild heart attack on Tuesday due to a piece of birdshot lodged in his heart.

'I thought it was the right call'

Cheney had also taken fire over the 21-hour gap between the incident and when it was disclosed, as well as why he let Armstrong take the lead in making it public rather than going through the White House as would be customary.

The vice president said it was Armstrong's idea - "and I agreed" - to take the lead herself rather than put out information through the White House, as would be customary in such situations.

"I thought that was the right call. I still do," said Cheney. "I had no press people with me, I was there on a private weekend with friends on a private ranch."

It was unclear why the vice-president, who never travels without an entourage of medical, security and communications staff, could not have reached out to aides in Washington or elsewhere.

When reporters contacted his office on Sunday afternoon seeking comment on the local Texas newspaper story, his spokesperson was able to confirm all of the details immediately but declined to provide an official account.

Cheney's version of the incident repudiated earlier ones from the White House and Armstrong that suggested that Whittington was to blame because he failed to notify the hunting party of his location.

Cheney said he was targeting a quail and did not see Whittington until after he fired, sending him bleeding, sprawled on his back, and unresponsive.

"The image of him falling is something I'll never be able to get out of my mind. I fired, and there's Harry falling and it was, I have to say, one of the worst days of my life, at that moment," said the vice-president.

Texas Park and Wildlife filed a report that tagged the incident as a hunting accident, and found nothing improper on the part of the vice-president except failure to have a seven-dollar hunting licence stamp allowing him to hunt quail.

US President George W Bush learned that there had been an incident one hour after it occurred at 17:30 Texas time and learned about 30 minutes later that Cheney had shot Whittington, according to the White House.

- AFP