WASHINGTON, July 28 (UPI) -- A wounded combat veterans group has withdrawn its invitation to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney to speak to them because of measures required by his staff.
The New York Daily News reported Monday that the Disabled American Veterans wanted the vice president to speak at 8:30 a.m. at its August convention in Las Vegas.
But Cheney's staff insisted that the veterans, some of whom are ill, had to be sequestered for two hours before Cheney's arrival and couldn't leave until he'd finished talking.
"Word got back to us ... that this would be a prerequisite," said the group's executive director, David Gorman, who noted the meeting hall doesn't have any rest rooms. "We told them it just wasn't acceptable."
When Cheney spoke to the group in 2004, the same security measures were set, but that upset members, officials said.
The veterans group said for health reasons, many of its members can't be stuck in a room for hours.
"It was a huge imposition on our delegates," added David Autry, another Disabled American Veterans official.
Autry said vets would've had to get up "at Oh-dark-30 and try to get breakfast and showered and get their prosthetics on," the newspaper reported.
