Now this is downright charming:

The Air Force's top leadership sought for three years to spend counterterrorism funds on "comfort capsules" to be installed on military planes that ferry senior officers and civilian leaders around the world, with at least four top generals involved in design details such as the color of the capsules' carpet and leather chairs, according to internal e-mails and budget documents.

Production of the first capsule -- consisting of two sealed rooms that can fit into the fuselage of a large military aircraft -- has already begun.

I'm not against providing luxury accommodations for political and military leaders, particularly given that we know sometimes they have to spend ridiculous amounts of time in the sky after terrorist attacks. I want them to be able to sleep aboard aircraft, if they have to be making decisions from the air.

And we might even need a version of Air Force One that has two beds; I remember thinking it was a shame that former President Clinton had to sleep on the floor when he traveled with Former President [H.W.] Bush. (A shame, but always appropriate for the younger man to grant the bed to the older man.)

But given what our troops are putting up with, and given what civilians are putting up with when we fly, this is an obscenity. If we've got that much extra cash lying around in the terror-fighting coffers, what a about coming up with a passenger-screening system that doesn't degrade the average tourist or business traveller, so we can be safe and still have . . . oh, I dunno: economic activity?

Captain Ed:

Perhaps the Luxury Pod has some sort of application for actual counterterrorist operations that we cannot yet discern. Maybe theyÂ’re meant to replace Gitmo as an interrogation capsule that would pass muster with Amnesty International. However, IÂ’d prefer that counterterrorist funds get spent on actual counterterrorist operations, and not featherbedding the travel accommodations of VIPs and Air Force staff.

Un-frickin' believable.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 06:33 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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