US VP Cheney's Shooting Victim Released From Hospital
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (Feb. 18)
The lawyer shot by Vice President Dick Cheney while quail hunting left a hospital Friday, stressing to reporters that it was an accident and giving Cheney his apologies.
"My family and I are deeply sorry for everything Vice President Cheney and his family have had to deal with," Harry Whittington said in his first comments since being shot on a South Texas ranch six days earlier.
The Austin attorney spoke less than 20 minutes before Cheney made his first public appearance since the shooting, receiving a rousing ovation from legislators in his home state of Wyoming.
"It's a wonderful experience to be greeted by such warmth by the leaders of our great state. It's especially true when you've had a very long week," Cheney told lawmakers in Cheyenne.
"Thankfully, Harry Whittington is on the mend and doing very well."
Whittington, 78, was hit in the face, neck and chest with birdshot Feb. 11. After a shotgun pellet traveled to his heart, he had suffered a mild heart attack Tuesday while being treated at Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial.
Whittington's voice was a bit raspy, but strong, as he gave his brief statement. He had what appeared to be a line of cuts on his upper right eyelid and scrapes on his neck.
"We all assume certain risks in what we do, in what activities we pursue," Whittington said. "Accidents do and will happen."
He said the past weekend involved "a cloud of misfortune and sadness that is not easy to explain, especially with those who are not familiar with the great sport of quail hunting."
Dr. David Blanchard, the hospital's chief of emergency care, said the attorney was lucky to have survived the shooting.
Whittington was being released Friday because of "his excellent health," Blanchard said, but he added that Whittington wasn't answering questions because "he is not 100 percent."
Whittington did feel well enough to crack a joke.
"I also thank all of you for understanding as best you can that medical attention is very important to someone my age - and you haven't failed to give my age," he said, drawing laughs from reporters.
He also sent his love and respect to Cheney and his family. "We hope that he will continue to come to Texas and seek the relaxation that he deserves," Whittington said.
Hospital spokeswoman Yvonne Wheeler wouldn't say exactly when Whittington left the hospital Friday or where he was going, only that he left in a car.
Cheney took full blame for the shooting in a Wednesday appearance on Fox News, but his comments Friday were focused on reminiscing about Wyoming politicians, including his own time as the state's sole representative in the U.S. House.
"For better than a decade, I proudly answered to the title, 'the gentleman from Wyoming,"' Cheney said.
He also recalled the late Gov. Stan Hathaway, who gave Cheney his first job in politics - as an intern in the Wyoming Legislature in 1965, when Cheney was paid $300 for 40 days work. Hathaway would go on to become governor of Wyoming, and established the mineral severance taxes that are responsible for the state's current $1.8 billion budget surplus.
About a dozen people waited outside the Capitol in subzero temperatures to protest Cheney's appearance. "We're a little embarrassed that he's from our state," said Tony Hayden, of Cheyenne.
But Cheney also had his supporters, including Dan Yoksh, of Cheyenne, who watched Cheney's speech on television at the Cheyenne Regional Airport.
"I think the media has blown things out of proportion," Yoksh said of the accident. "If you go duck hunting out here, you're bound to get shot sometime."
Cheney received two ovations from the Legislature, one when he was introduced and a second when state Senate President Grant Larson announced a recent $2.7 million gift from Cheney and his wife Lynne to the University of Wyoming.
In Texas, the Kenedy County Sheriff's Department closed its investigation in the shooting Thursday without filing any charges. The department's report supported the account of the vice president, who told an investigator he did not see his hunting partner while aiming for a bird.
SCIENTIFIC PROOF CHENEY'S SHOOTING STORY A LIE
Harry Whittington Shooting Ballistics Tested, Cheney shot at Whittington from 15 feet not 90 as claimed
Infowars | February 16, 2006
By Alex Jones
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Observations of the Ballistics Test
Infowars | February 15, 2006
By Kevin Smith
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Gelatin Testing: #8 Birdshot Statistics
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Observations
*Small sized birdshot such as this #8 heavy dove load is a poor choice for deployment with a tactical shotgun. Wounds inflicted from birdshot tend to be gruesome yet shallow as they lack the penetration required to reach vital cardiovascular or central nervous system structures.
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On February 14, 2006 when I made my original comments about the Cheney shooting incident on The Alex Jones Show, the subsequent article and ballistic data that I complied were based on a basic knowledge of firearms and my own personal and shared hunting experiences. I assumed that they were probably using #4 or #5 birdshot, accordingly I went to the http://www.tacticalshotgun.ca/ website and gathered that specific data. We now know the shot being used was an even smaller grain #7.5 birdshot, packing even less lethal ballistics than previously thought. Included is data for #8 birdshot, the closest we could find, any differences between #7.5 and #8 would be negligible.
As many of you already know Alex is a Pit Bull, he sinks his teeth in and won’t let go. So yesterday I accompanied Alex to the local gun store where he purchased a 28 gauge side-by-side double barreled shotgun with one barrel modified and the other full-chocked. Which means the first barrel has a slightly wider spread than the second, this allows for a quick reaction shot when the bird is flushed, and if missed, the second shot will allow for a better aimed tighter spread shot.
Alex also purchased the same 2 ¾ inch #7.5 shotgun shells used by Cheney. So this morning February 16, the crew was off to the local range to conduct a controlled, scientific ballistic test to prove that the official story coming from the Cheney camp, describing the circumstances of the Whittington shooting to be bold-faced lies. Again, we can’t speculate at this time as to whether there was any malice or intent involved, or whether it was a simple hunting accident, such as a dropped gun or a snagged trigger. Although, as I speculated the other day about the delay in allowing the Sheriff to interview "Quick-Draw Cheney," it has now been confirmed that Cheney had indeed had at least one beer during lunch. If you accept the notion that he stopped at one, that’s like eating one potato chip, you must also consider the fact that he could be on a number of medications for his heart condition that would cause adverse effects if mixed with alcohol. The incident may have been an accident, an unlucky fluke, a simple twist of fate, but what happened in the aftermath of the shooting is without a doubt a crime, cover-up, and a conspiracy. Here’s how we proved it:
We used three cameras to film the test, two were fixed at different angles to the targets, the other was used to film Alex shooting the shotgun. In our group we had Raymond, a former NASA contract engineer from the Apollo program with prior service in the Air Force to make sure the measurements were correct. Another in our team was Karl, a former Airborne Infantrymen, M.P., weapons and self-defense instructor, and former law enforcement, to explain the nature of shot trajectory and wound ballistics. And finally there was Ryan and I on the cameras.
The first thing we did was to measure out 90 feet or 30 yards from where we were to set-up the various targets. We erected man sized torso targets for the shots from 90 feet, 30 feet, 15 feet, and 10 feet. We also made shots from both barrels. The first shot was from 90 feet into the paper target on a cardboard backing, this gave a spread of approximately 7 ½ feet. Rule of thumb, you get 1 inch of spread for every 1 foot of distance away from the barrel. Most of the pellets were lodged in the cardboard with a few completely penetrating the 1/8 of an inch cardboard. The next shot involved the latex torso dummy we brought, he was dressed in two layers of clothing, a sweater and a shirt. Mr. Whittington was reported to be wearing 3 layers. Again this shot was from 90 feet, most of the shot that hit the target were caught in the fibers of the clothing, a few actually penetrated through both layers, but these were extremely shallow and could be picked out with your fingers or tweezers. The same goes for the neck and face, if the pellets hit at any sort of an angle if would they simply bounce off. The next shots were taken at 30 feet in case Cheney and his goons were to come out with a correction from yards to feet. This yielded a spread that was more than 2 feet in diameter, still at least twice as wide as the Texas Park and Wildlife Hunting Accident and Incident Report Form indicated. We next took a shot from 15 feet or 5 yards (that’s half a first down). The spread from this distance was approximately 8 to 10 inches. Imagine the sight picture you would see looking down the barrel from 15 feet. Mr. Whittington’s upper body would fill your vision, are we to believe that a bird flew between Mr. Whittington and Cheney, the bird would have had to be almost touching the end of the barrel. The shot taken from 10 feet had a spread of around 6 inches. In both the 10 foot and 15 foot shots the holes made by the wad were significant. With the data from these distances and their corresponding spreads we feel comfortable in stating that Mr. Whittington was shot from a distance of between 15 and 18 feet. There is no confusing this distance with that of 90 feet.
So we have established the distance of the shot. Now we wanted to see if we could match the wound penetration. As I already stated the shots at the dummy torso from 90 feet had little to no effect. Alex then decided to shoot the game hen and the watermelon from 90 feet. The results of these shots were penetrations of 1 to 2 millimeters, this means they were just under the outer layer of skin. There was also evidence of impacts that bounced off, leaving black smudges on both targets. At shots taken from 30 feet slightly deeper penetrations, but nothing that went passed the most outer layers of the actual meat. The last shot was taken at the game hen from 15 feet and that shot yielded the kind of results that Mr. Whittington experienced, a tight cluster of pellet hits penetrating into the internal cavities of the body.
In Conclusion the Kenedy County Sheriffs department closed its investigation on Thursday February 16th, without ever even being allowed to conduct one. It was clear from day one that the Cheney and Rove spin machine were engaging in a cover-up. We don’t know the specifics of what they are covering up, but what we do know is 100% scientifically proven. Mr. Whittington was shot from 15 to 18 feet, not the 90 feet claimed by Cheney. They acted very suspiciously by declaring national security and ordering the Secret Service to keep the Sheriff from questioning Cheney for over 13 hours. They then Care-Flighted Mr. Whittington to a hospital that was further away while declaring his wounds to be minor and superficial. Care-flight is reserved for only the most critically wounded, but 22 hours after the shooting incident they announced to the world that his wounds were minor, telling us he was sitting up in bed and cracking jokes. In the meantime the hospital had already x-rayed his chest and catheterized his heart to shunt the massive internal bleeding. But for a day and a half afterwards Whitehouse Press Secretary Scott McClellan was denying it. We know that Cheney is lying. He shot Mr. Whittington up-close and whatever the circumstance are they’re either more embarrassing or outright criminal than he’s willing to admit. Meanwhile the liberal press is attacking Cheney for all the wrong reasons and the straw-men they build will easily be toppled, unless the people stand-up and demand an examination of the real facts.
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