By now, most people have heard about the wonderful secret prisons that the CIA is supposedly operating out of former Soviet-era gulags. And in case you haven’t heard about that, well that’s what’s happening. Here’s a link to the Washington Post article on it which came out Wednesday.

At first when I heard this news (via Cryptogon) , I was like - “Wow, that’s crazy that they refurbished those old Soviet prisons!” But you know, now that I really sit down and think about it, how do we know the CIA wasn’t running them back in the old days too - while wearing a Soviet disguise?

To me, this makes more sense than anything. It’s like when a restaurant puts up a big banner: “Under New Management!” Still the same old restaurant, same owners. It’s just the public face that is changed. And only barely.

Browsing around just now, I happened across another article, with the headline, Bush adviser: U.S. policy forbids torture worldwide. It made me realize a subtle linguistic game that’s being played here. Namely, that “policy” is the only thing that forbids us from torture. It’s strictly just a matter of decision. It has nothing to do with ethics or decency or simple humanity.

Ah, good times. Is it just me or does the idea of being in a converted Soviet gulag seem more romantic than say, being imprisoned at Guantanmo Bay, or in Abu Ghraib or something? Maybe it’s just cause of the era I was raised in.