But it took over 12 hours to notify the local sheriff that Vice President Dick Cheney had shot 78-year-old lawyer Harry Whittington on Katharine Armstrong's 50,000 acre ranch .
It took 24 hours to tell the nation.
To tell you and me.
Why is this important?
Because such accidents are normally investigated while the evidence is such that there is something that can be investigated. You and I would have to undergo such an investigation.
And, because this incident involves the Vice President of the United States.
How seriously was Whittington injured? This information was initially a stonewall. Cheney's modus operandi.
The accident was on Saturday. On Tuesday the Corpus Christi-Memorial hospital announced that one of the pellets was lodged near Whittington's heart and had caused a "silent heart attack." Hospital officials said there were about six to 200 other pieces of birdshot that might still be in Whittington's body.
This was a serious incident. Were alcohol or drugs involved? Probably no way to know after so many hours and now days. The first public announcement came on Sunday from Armstrong, the former Chairman of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission and a Bush Pioneer. She informed her local paper, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Not a word from Cheney or the White House.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Hunting Accident and Incident Report Form completed by Game Warden Jason Duke was very detailed except for the question "Number of persons in party" which was left blank. It was reported that besides Cheney, Whittington and Armstrong there was another, initially undisclosed, person in the party.
The other hunting companion? The lovely U. S. Ambassador to Switzerland, Pamela Willeford.
There must be more than meets the eye, otherwise why the Texas shuffle? Stay tuned.
U.S. Ambassador Pamela Willeford February 2004
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