Cheney’s shooting blackout
Dasu Krishnamoorty
The facts first, that have all the ingredients of a thriller because of the secrecy surrounding them. The hero of the thriller is Dick Cheney, second in command to George W. Bush, the man who wanted to get Osama bin Laden but could not. The VP went on a weekend (11 Feb.) hunting binge on a private ranch and ended up shooting at 05.30 p.m. a companion hunter, a reputed Republican lawyer. After the thunder of the gun followed silence. For 18 hours no American knew that their vice-president had shot Harry Whittington until ranch owner Katherine Armstrong called, 14 hours after the incident and after much deliberation, a local daily Corpus Christ Caller-Times and most probably declared the shooting was an accident. Several newspapers helpfully inserted the word accidentally in their headlines. The practice is to use such words in parenthesis to indicate disassociation. Cheney’s office confirmed the incident only after the local newspaper sought details.
"Cheney Shoots Fellow Hunter in Texas accident," said Washington Post. The Post satisfied itself that it was an accident after the vice-president`s office had confirmed the Caller-Times report. But the Post also wondered why the White House, that typically releases information immediately on incidents involving the president`s personal life to avoid the charge of covering up embarrassments, allowed a private citizen Ms. Armstrong to be its de facto spokesman. It is highly unusual, if not unprecedented, for the White House, it said. Cheney Shoots Fellow Hunter in Mishap on a Texas Ranch, read the New York Times headline. The Times intro read, "Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a prominent Austin, Tex., lawyer on Saturday." Many other newspapers and net news media followed the two liberal giants in exonerating the vice-president without waiting for details.
Cheney aides rushed Whittington to a hospital in Corpus Christi where he was admitted to the intensive care unit and later suffered a mild heart attack. The thriller acquired shades of comedy after the shooting victim was discharged from the hospital. In a statement outside the hospital, Whittington apologized to the vice-president for "all that vice-president Cheney and his family have had to go through this past week." Accidents do and will happen, he said. Of course, they do but a vice-president is expected to tell the nation what happened.
There are few takers for this line. True it was an accident. But it was not an accident that happened to just anybody. The vice-president of the United States, second most powerful office in the world, shot somebody. The consequences of anything extraordinary that happens to a person in such an office are huge. Cheney had a responsibility to his office, to the public and to Whittington and his companions, to make a full and prompt statement about what happened. He did not. For four days he let aides from the White House and friends in Texas do the talking in his place.
Everything that happened or did not happen after the event should have become an instant scandal but for inexplicable media charity. Why did not Cheney’s office tell the public that their boss had accidentally or otherwise shot a friend and the result was serious enough for admission to the intensive care unit? Why did the media not pursue the story immediately, particularly when the incident involved the vice-president of the country? It is providence that Whittington emerged unscathed after he suffered a mild heart attack in the hospital, a fact White House press secretary Scott McClellan did not disclose at his briefing. All the talking was done by Ms Armstrong who persuaded Cheney to let her do that. So far neither Cheney nor Whittington disclosed details of what happened. It took four days for Cheney to open his mouth. And, that has all the attributes of play-acting.
To begin with, the National Review Online came to the rescue of the high-strung vice-president by suggesting that "Cheney himself should make a public appearance on the matter, and the sooner the better. He should get himself with a respected national anchor — perhaps Brit Hume of Fox News — as soon as this evening to express his regret and explain in his own words what happened." Cheney did as suggested and created another controversy. Promptly, some Democrats and rival TV channels claimed that Cheney chose Fox because Fox is friendly to the Republican White House. The Los Angeles Times complained that the interview came after days of sniping between the White House news corps and Scott McClellan over why news of the hunting accident was not released earlier to the national media.
But Cheney showed no remorse during the interview with Brit Hume of Fox News Channel about his decision not to tell the news media about the accident until the next day. Brit, however, defended Cheney saying, "I don`t think much of the nation feels particularly deprived that they found out about this on Sunday afternoon or Sunday evening instead of Saturday night or Sunday morning,"
Both Washington Post and the New York Times which quickly concluded that Whittington was accidentally shot, however, refused to accept Hume’s explanation. The Post said that neither Cheney nor the White House was free to choose when to disclose when failure to act properly had disturbing implications. Though the National Review Online first condoned the delay, it immediately pointed out there were customary political and media rules about how to handle such things. Those rules required earliest disclosure. It was a mistake not to alert the national press of the incident immediately. Writing for Slate.Com, Jacob Weisberg asked, "Must one really argue the case that when the vice president of the United States shoots someone—intentionally or unintentionally, fatally or otherwise—that the public has a right to hear about it?" When President Bush was informed of the shooting on the night of the incident, he agreed Cheney could decide when and how to break the news.
Because the media have the version of only Ms. Armstrong, they were justified in suspecting and speculating about 11 Feb. events. Crucial details are missing about the actual chain of events that took place on the Armstrong ranch. What is the distance between Cheney and his victim when the shooting took place? 30 yards or 30 feet? Why did Ms. Armstrong take 14 hours to inform the local daily? Some reports say that when the local sheriff’s man came to the ranch to inquire he was turned away. Who turned him away and why? These details become more interesting to reporters because they were withheld. Three persons so far spoke to the media, Cheney, Ms. Armstrong and Whittington. Cheney told the Fox channel what Armstrong had already told the local daily. Whittington read out a statement soon after his discharge from hospital and refused to talk to the media.
Why did Cheney’s office wait till the news media broke the news? Asked Chicago Tribune White House correspondent Mark Silva, "Were they worried about Whittington’s condition? What exactly happened that night?" Nobody knows and that leads to speculation and suspicion. Journalists are also asking questions about what transpired at the White House between the President`s staff and the vice-president`s staff. Why did Ms Armstrong play down the result of shooting? How far was she from the scene of shooting? It is difficult to attach much credence to what she had to say because she happens to be a friend of the vice-president. It is going to be a headache for Cheney and for Bush too because he will have to explain why he left the time and manner of disclosure to Cheney.
There are other questions crying for answers, particularly relating to the responsibilities of the hunter and other members of his party. Hunting experts also said hunters are taught to learn where everyone in their party is before firing. "If you are squeezing the trigger, you will not get that shot back and you need to make sure of the target and surrounding area and make sure it is safe to shoot into it," said Mark Birkhauser of the International Hunter Education Association. The details of the shooting remain murky because Ms Armstrong was the only person present. Time magazine did a cover story on the incident that says hardly anything that has not appeared in the press already.
Cheney’s handling of the aftermath indicates arrogance and contempt for the public and media. More amazing is the inertia of the police who in normal circumstances would question the man who shot another person. The sheriff’s men who arrived on the scene were turned away by Cheney’s Secret Service staff. The police also investigate normally whether alcohol or drugs played a role in the shooting. Nothing of that sort happened. Truth will be out soon and that will be a crisis difficult to handle. The media is yet to pick up steam.
contact: dasukrishnamoorthy@hotmail.com