A pimple on Goliath

Check out this amazing video clip which purports to show hooded pranksters scaling a fence and painting graffiti on the engine cowling of Air Force One. It's an elaborate hoax: the filmmakers rented a 747 Jumbo Jet and painted it in the colors of Bush's plane to make the video in San Bernadino, California. But the result was so real-looking, the Air Force had to check to make sure the slogan "Still Free" hadn't actually been plastered on the side of the "real" plane.

"I wanted to do something culturally significant, wanted to create a real pop-culture moment," said Marc Ecko of Marc Ecko Enterprises, who staged the spoof. "It's this completely irreverent, over-the-top thing that could really never happen: this five-dollar can of paint putting a pimple on this Goliath."

The two-minute clip has been circulating on the Internet for several days, generating much speculation as to how the most heavily guarded aircraft in the world could have been "tagged". It was only on Friday that the prank was revealed. While Ecko declined to state how much it cost to rent the cargo jet for the video, he did say "It's not cheap. You have to be rich."

In the words of Bono, "fucking brilliant."