Bad appointment

General Michael Hayden as the new director of the CIA:

"A number of lawmakers, including some from President George W Bush's Republican party, have voiced concern about Gen Hayden being a general with close ties to the military and his role in an eavesdropping programme criticised by both Democrats and Republicans as a violation of civil rights.

As head of the NSA - the American electronic eavesdropping organisation - the 61-year-old oversaw the programme, which allows for the monitoring of international calls and e-mails of terrorist suspects inside the US without a warrant."

He wasn't President Bush's first choice - allegedly he was disappointed when his advisors informed him that Attila the Hun was unavailable and had been for the last fifteen hundred years or so.

You hardly expect the Director of the CIA to be a chilled-out dude that you could share a hand-rolled cigarette with but honestly! The last line in the beeb profile of Hayden is priceless:

"He is said to love Shakespeare."

Because that makes all the difference...