Pop stars challenge U.S. government: Tell us if our music was used for torture at Guantanamo

 

 

By Mail Foreign Service

Last updated at 11:21 AM on 23rd October 2009

 

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REM, Pearl Jam and Billy Bragg are among a coalition of musicians demanding that the U.S. government tell them if their music was used for torture at Guantanamo Bay.

 

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request has been lodged on behalf of the artists in a bid to force authorities to reveal the truth about the use of loud music to interrogate inmates at the infamous U.S. prison.

 

Former detainees at the centre have claimed that songs from the likes of AC/DC, Britney Spears, the Bee Gees and Sesame Street were played at an ear-splitting level to break terrorist suspects.

 

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Torture: The music of Britney Spears, left, was used for interrogation at Guantanamo Bay, former inmates have claimed. Now musicians including Billy Bragg, right, are demanding to know if their music was also used

 

 

Campaigners claim that music was played repeatedly at ear-splitting levels to 'humiliate, terrify, punish, disorient, and deprive detainees of sleep'.

A jingle for cat food and the theme tune for Barney, a U.S. dinosaur television character, were also said to be pumped into cells in the Cuban prison.

 

'The fact that music I helped create was used as a tactic against humanity sickens me,' said guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, whose music is said to have been used at Guantanamo.

Mr Morello, who has signed up to the campaign to close the centre, said: 'We need to end torture and close Guantanamo now.'

The FOI was sent today to a number of U.S. agencies including the CIA, FBI and Department of Defence by the National Security Archive in Washington on behalf of the campaign group.

Thomas Blanton, executive director of the archive, said: 'At Guantanamo, the US government turned a jukebox into an instrument of torture.'

CIA spokesman George Little said that music was used for security and 'not for punitive purposes'.

 

Detainees at Guantanamo Bay (file photo). Released inmates have claimed pop music was used as a form of torture in the prison

 

He added that the volume was at levels 'far below a live band'.

The music was played as a security measure, the CIA has claimed, to 'mask sound and prevent communication among detainees'.

 

But campaigners have said that it was part of a programme of interrogation that transgressed international law.

Jayne Huckerby, research director at New York University's Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice, has studied the use of music in interrogations.

She said that the CIA employed loud music to 'humiliate, terrify, punish, disorient and deprive detainees of sleep, in violation of international law'.

In a statement, REM said: 'We have spent the last 30 years supporting causes related to peace and justice. To now learn that some of our friends' music may have been used as part of torture tactics without their consent or knowledge is horrific.

'It's anti-American, period.'

 

President Barack Obama vowed to close the Cuban-based detention centre as one of his first acts in office.

But plans to shut Guantanamo by early next year have since been beset by logistical problems that could see its eventual closure put back by months.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1222416/Pop-stars-challenge-U-S-Government-Tell-music-used-torture-Guantanamo.html#ixzz0UkrHjcLD

:wtf:

that article is joking right?

 

how an artist music can be used as torture? :wtf:

are they recognizing they are not really good artists?

Pop songs being used at torture...thats hella weird :wacko:

:laugh3: that's so funny!

 

 

Womanizer, Womanizer wo wo wo Womanizer!

that article is joking right?

 

how an artist music can be used as torture? :wtf:

are they recognizing they are not really good artists?

 

Well they got it right with Britney Spears!!:lol:

I'd torture them with my best Britney Spears personification. :wacky:

hahahahaha

The Jonas Brothers, Lady GaGa and Tokio Hotel should all be on the list, of course.:rolleyes:

how an artist music can be used as torture? :wtf:

are you joking?

:laugh3: that's so funny!

 

 

Womanizer, Womanizer wo wo wo Womanizer!

Now play it so loud that you get a headache. Then play that one song that loud over and over on repeat for 5 days with no breaks.

 

It's not funny. It really is a form of torture, especially for people from backgrounds where they don't listen to pop music. Loud repeated music can have a very different effect on the brain than having a loud radio on does. If you do a bit of digging some of the allegations about how the music was used to break people are pretty nasty. I'd want to know if it was my music too.

 

 

 

 

:(

The Jonas Brothers, Lady GaGa and Tokio Hotel should all be on the list, of course.:rolleyes:

 

Agreed. :dozey:

in a way,

it may not be funny.

But from the surface,

The thought of dangerous criminals be so annoyed to a point where its toture.

Only through the power of Pop Music.

in a way,

it may not be funny.

But from the surface,

The thought of dangerous criminals be so annoyed to a point where its toture.

Only through the power of Pop Music.

 

I agree.

I always said that the worst conceivable disposition is to be stuck in a box, unable to die, with all american rejects on loop in the background.

*sings*

i'll keep you my dirty little secret

 

:laugh3:

Bit of a rubbish way of torturing someone though really isn't it.

I would force them to listen to "The Hardest Part" by Coldplay on repeat. :D

Torture top 10??

 

1 - Lonely by Akon

2 - Lonely by Akon

3 - Lonely by Akon

4 - Lonely by Akon

5 - Lonely by Akon

6 - Lonely by Akon

7 - Lonely by Akon

8 - Lonely by Akon

9 - Lonely by Akon

10 - Lonely By Akon

1-10:

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDdlHmzIdn8]YouTube - Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe 2002 high quality[/ame]

A navy seal killed himself after watching this 5 times in a row. Chuck Norris couldn't even make it past 7 times in a row.

Wow so wait this is true? cause if it is that horrible! Music is supposed to be a thing of joy and entertainment, not a torture device! like wow... sorry im gonna say this but just another reason Canada is SOOO much better then the USA

Wow so wait this is true? cause if it is that horrible! Music is supposed to be a thing of joy and entertainment, not a torture device! like wow... sorry im gonna say this but just another reason Canada is SOOO much better then the USA

 

Saying that, your country is responsible for the creation of such "torture implements" as Shania Pain and Celine Dion.................................... :P

Saying that, your country is responsible for the creation of such "torture implements" as Shania Pain and Celine Dion.................................... :P

 

hahah i actually loled at this... its true... but your forgot Nickleback :P

hahah i actually loled at this... its true... but your forgot Nickleback :P

 

Well that's such an obvious instrument of torture that it didn't even need to be mentioned........................... :rolleyes: