Cheney traveled in the belly of "The Spirit of Strom Thurmond.''

[never cry wolf]

Poor guy had to "rough" it in a triple pod airstream bolted down inside a C-17 so he could travel incognito.

Cheney's bumpy ride

Posted by Mark Silva at 6:44 a.m. CST

MUSCAT, Oman – Vice President Dick Cheney rode an Airstream trailer into Pakistan and Afghanistan, and he rode the Airstream out of Kabul wearing cowboy boots.

He also traveled in the belly of "The Spirit of Strom Thurmond.''

After traveling more than half-way around the world in the standard-issue Air Force Two, a military version of the Boeing 757-200 airliner whose electrical system had started acting up someplace between Sydney and Singapore, the vice president boarded a much less identifiable military transport for quick blend-in trips in and out of true hot spots, Islamabad, Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan and Kabul.

This particular C-17, a hulking gray cargo jet out of Charleston, S.C., is dubbed The Spirit of Strom Thurmond, with the name painted decoratively in black above the front passenger door that Cheney boarded.

Inside, the vice president's senior staff – as well as the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Steve Kappes – sat in airline-styled seats that had been set up in the forward section of the cargo bay.

Behind them, a silvery-steel skinned trailer minus wheels had been slid into place, chained down at the floor and strapped in with canvas belting. This wasn't your average R/V.

It was actually three pods in segments slid together to form a home away from home. But it bore the unmistakable aerodynamic shape of America's favorite trailer. And it was indeed a product of Airstream Inc., out of Jackson Center, Ohio, with an official stamp of inspection by the Air Force Research Laboratory.

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2007/02/cheneys_bumpy_r.html

[DU9598]

1. Huh?

Cheney can't take a flight into Afghanistan without retrofitting a plane with a trailer inside, but right-wing Amurka is in an uproar because Speaker Pelosi flies in a standard issue military aircraft capable of flying non-stop from D.C. to SF?

Wow, the right wing would have a blast with these facts if Cheney were a Democrat.

[never cry wolf]

2. No doubt, imagine the cost

Along with AF-2 and the accompanying cargo plane to carry his armored convoy around the world, this plane was retrofitted stateside (based in SC) and flown empty to the middle east to be used for a series of short hops around the ME after he left the Shangri-La hotel in Oman. I am sure it will also be flown back empty and unretrofitted on our tax dollars.

[Beelzebud]

3. How much fucking money did Cheny's little field trip blow through right there?