Morning brief, Monday, May8

It's official. Michael V. Hayden is Bush's pick for CIA director. The NYT reports on how sharp and intelligent Hayden is, but how fortunate he's been that he hasn't been fired. Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on Sunday that Hayden would be the "wrong man" for the job:

I have a lot of respect for Hayden. I think he’s done a very good job in the positions that he’s had. He has a distinguished career. Bottom line, I believe he’s the wrong person, the wrong place, at the wrong time. We should not have a military person leading a civilian agency at this time.

Several GOP leaders have reservations, leading the NYT to say: "Mr. Hoekstra's remarks, coupled with similar sentiments expressed by leading Senate Republicans, including Pat Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, suggest that the general might not have an easy ride toward confirmation."

More car bombings in Iraq.  

Tom Daschle and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla unsurprisingly argue for an ethanol answer to our energy woes:

We need to upgrade to a new CAFE: Carbon Alternative Fuel Equivalent. This new CAFE will measure "petroleum mileage" and give automakers incentives and credits for increasing ethanol consumption as a percentage of fuel use of their vehicles, not least by promoting flex-fuel vehicles, which can run on either gasoline or E85 fuel, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. This approach promises several significant benefits.

Ahmadinejad sends a letter to Bush, probably to show that he'll negotiate with anyone. Over the weekend Iran threatened to quit the NPT (again). 

Madeline Albright writes in the WaPo on the "right way" to spread democracy in the Middle East:

The debate between idealism and realism in foreign affairs moves back and forth like a pendulum because neither extreme is sustainable. A successful foreign policy must begin with the world as it is but also work for what we would like it to be. On a globe this complicated, even the purest of principles must sometimes be diluted. Still, we get up in the morning because of hope, which cold-blooded cynicism can neither inspire nor satisfy. If all America stands for is stability, no one will follow us for the simple reason that we aren't going anywhere.

Fatah and Hamas clash in Palestine. The state of health care in the Palestinian territories has suffered. A North Korean woman applies for U.S. asylum from South Korea. Bush hints at closing Guantánamo.

Peace deal? That'd be news to the Darfuris.

In Liberia, sexual abuse by international agencies and peacekeepers continues.