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Cheney in wheelchair for Obama's inauguration

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-20 17:12

WASHINGTON  – US Vice President Dick Cheney pulled a muscle in his back while moving boxes and will be in a wheelchair for Tuesday's historic inauguration of incoming president Barack Obama, the White House said.

US Vice President Dick Cheney, seen January 6. Cheney pulled a muscle in his back while moving boxes and will be in a wheelchair for Tuesday's historic inauguration of incoming president Barack Obama, the White House said. [Agencies]

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"Vice President Cheney pulled a muscle in his back today while moving boxes into his new house," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

"Under his physician's recommendation, the vice president will be in a wheelchair for the next couple of days, including for tomorrow's inauguration."

She said that despite the setback, the 67-year-old Cheney "is looking forward to being there for tomorrow's historic inaugural activities" on the steps of the US Capitol, where Obama and his vice president, Joseph Biden, will be sworn in.

For Cheney, one of the most powerful and controversial vice presidents in US history, the muscle pull is the latest in a series of health problems over his eight years as vice president.

He underwent an angioplasty weeks after taking the oath of office in January 2001 and had a pacemaker implanted that same year.

In September 2005 Cheney had an operation for blood clots behind each of his knees, and in January 2006 he was hospitalized for shortness of breath.

In November 2007, he underwent treatment for the same irregular heartbeat, which required an electrical impulse to restore the upper chambers of the heart to normal rhythm.

The vice president went on a course of blood thinners after doctors discovered a blood clot behind his left knee following a nine-day trip to Asia in March 2007.

And last October he underwent successful treatment for an irregular heartbeat that led him to cancel appearances at the White House.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Cheney became one of the administration insiders leading the charge for the US-led war in Iraq, and was an advocate for some of Bush's most controversial policies including the use of "waterboarding," or simulated drowning, to extract information from terror suspects.

Human rights groups, and the man nominated to be the next attorney general, say waterboarding is torture.

Cheney has said he expects to retire completely from public life after January 20 and return with his wife Lynne to Wyoming following nearly 40 years serving four presidents in Washington, although he said he would maintain a residence in the capital region.

"I've got a lot of rivers to fish," he told CBS Radio last week. "So I don't think anybody will feel sorry for me. They shouldn't."