Former US vice president Dick Cheney, who has had a long history of heart problems, remained in hospital yesterday after he checked in with unspecified health complaints, his spokesman said. He is not expected to be discharged until next week.
It was not immediately clear whether the latest hospitalization was related to his past heart troubles, which saw the 69-year-old Republican hawk suffer his fifth heart attack since 1978 in late February.
“Former vice president Cheney was not feeling well and was seen this afternoon by his doctors in their offices at George Washington University,” spokesman Peter Long said in a statement on Friday. “On the advice of his physicians, he was admitted to the hospital for further testing. He is expected to remain in the hospital over the weekend.”
Cheney, one of the US’ most powerful and controversial vice presidents, who served under former US president George W. Bush, is known as a key driving force behind the controversial war on terror that included the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, warrantless wiretapping on US citizens and the use of torture on terror suspects.
In this role, he became a hero to hawkish conservatives and a nemesis without equal for liberals and Democrats.
He has had a long list of health scares, including undergoing quadruple bypass surgery and two artery-clearing angioplasties. In 2001, he was fitted with a pacemaker.
Cheney has also twice been treated with electrical shocks for atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm that places him at risk of a stroke if not treated, and in 2005 underwent surgery for an arterial aneurysm on the back of each of his knees.
Despite his persistent health problems, Cheney became one of the most powerful vice presidents in US history and has remained on the political scene since leaving office, fiercely criticizing US President Barack Obama, a Democrat.
He accused Obama of making the country less safe by repudiating Bush-era policies, and regularly took to the air waves to denounce the administration’s national security policy.
His sudden public prominence was in marked contrast to the extreme secrecy he was known for in office, when he was jokingly referred to by many — including then-senator Hillary Clinton — as Darth Vader.
He embraced the epithet, mocking himself in a 2004 interview.
“Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It’s a nice way to operate, actually,” he quipped.
While Republicans, including George W. Bush, acknowledged mistakes were made in the years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Cheney never expressed doubt about his support for indefinite detention or even waterboarding — a form of torture that was used on terror suspects in US custody.
“I feel very good about what we did. I think it was the right thing to do. If I was faced with those circumstances again, I’d do exactly the same thing,” he told Fox News in 2008.
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