BUSH RECRUITS ANOTHER GUNSLINGER FOR HIS O.K. CORRAL

Un-freaking-believable. Bush has appointed John Negroponte as the first US Director of National Intelligence.

This is the man who while ambassador to Honduras, supervised the creation of an air base in El Salvador that was used as a "secret detention and torture center." 185 corpses, including two Americans, were excavated there in 2001. During his ambassadorship to Honduras, human rights violations became "systematic." The CIA And Argentine military kidnapped, tortured and kiled hundreds of people, and Negroponte covered it up, lying to Congress. Read more about John Negroponte here.

FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting) discusses Bush's Iran-Contra appointees.

This is not a man who will flinch at rolling over civil liberties, justifying it in the name of the war on terra. And what kind of message does it send to the world about the integrity of our intelligence services? It's a disastrous, diabolical choice, but I've come to expect no less from the Bush administration.

Next thing we know, he'll have set up "interrogation centers" for domestic peaceniks and Democrats. If not, he'll at least have shut his eyes to it and cooperated in the cover-up.

Eric Alterman has more here.

UPDATE: Billmon has compiled some great little Negroponte nuggets.