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2009-10-23 Home Front: WoT
AC/DC songs and other music used as Guantanamo torture tool by US government
WHAT do Neil Diamond, AC/DC, Marilyn Manson, Eminem, Christina Aguilera and Don McLean have in common?

They were all used as instruments of torture by the US government.

Former Guantanamo guards and detainees have said that these big names are among 35 artists whose music was used as a means of torture at the detention facility.

Others on the list include Tupac Shakur, Pink, Bruce Springsteen and The Bee Gees. It is also alleged that the theme from Sesame Street was played to unnerve inmates.

See the full list HERE


In reaction to the news, bands such as R.E.M. and Pearl Jam are petitioning the US Government to release a full list of music that has been used as a means of torture in US prisons and military detention centres, CNN reports.

“We have spent the past 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 the torture tactics without their consent or knowledge is horrific,” R.E.M. said in a statement.

“It's anti-American, period.”

The National Security Archive, who has filed a Freedom of Information request on behalf of the artists, said they have approached several agencies within the US Department of Defence to find out the names of all the artists whose music was used.

Their request asks for the disclosure of documents “concerning the use of loud music during detention and/or as a technique to interrogate detainees at US-operated prison facilities used in its War on Terror at Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan during 2002-the present.”

The Pentagon has not yet responded to allegations of torture involving music, however Joint Task Force Guantanamo spokeswoman Maj. Diana Haynie says that loud music has not been used at the detention centre since 2003.

Former Guantanamo detainee Ruhal Ahmed, one of several who has filed a lawsuit against the US government, says that he was subjected to hours of music abuse.

“It's very scary to think that you might go crazy because of the music, because of the loud noise.”
Posted by tipper 2009-10-23 06:42|| || Front Page|| [11132 views ]  Top

#1 Calling the act of playing music "torture" kinda defines the term down, don't you think?
Posted by Parabellum 2009-10-23 06:50|| http://sidemeat.wordpress.com/]">[http://sidemeat.wordpress.com/]  2009-10-23 06:50|| Front Page Top

#2 Don McLean?
Posted by gromky 2009-10-23 07:25|| ]">[ ]  2009-10-23 07:25|| Front Page Top

#3 
Posted by Don Vito Anginegum8261 2009-10-23 07:49||   2009-10-23 07:49|| Front Page Top

#4 Quitcher bitchin. It coulda been worse. They could've used polka.
Posted by Mike 2009-10-23 08:08||   2009-10-23 08:08|| Front Page Top

#5 Bee Gees, Mike. Bee Gees.

Show trials are clearly called for. Hopefully they won't let Barry Gibb write the libretto.

Posted by Mitch H.">Mitch H.  2009-10-23 08:34|| http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/]">[http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/]  2009-10-23 08:34|| Front Page Top

#6 So, what you're saying is that hundreds of thousands of parents can now hold those listed as plaintiffs in future civil cases of wrongful torture by music as suffered by them and other family members exposed to the material? Sort of like, second hand smoke. Tort lawyers dreams are made of these.
Posted by Procopius2k 2009-10-23 09:10||   2009-10-23 09:10|| Front Page Top

#7 Talk Radio could advertise itself as "Torture Free" hehe!
Posted by Bright Pebbles 2009-10-23 09:20||   2009-10-23 09:20|| Front Page Top

#8 I heard they used the theme from Barney.

Where will this madness end? Who is responsible for this atrocity?

I think it would work on me.
Posted by Jame Retief 2009-10-23 09:21||   2009-10-23 09:21|| Front Page Top

#9 Songs, Lapdances, and lots of good food! Is there no end to the torture?

Can I get a place there?
Posted by Bright Pebbles 2009-10-23 09:25||   2009-10-23 09:25|| Front Page Top

#10 Wow, to think I used to pay for AC/DC in my youth...
Posted by Cromomp Bonaparte6340 2009-10-23 09:38||   2009-10-23 09:38|| Front Page Top

#11 Glad Johnny Cash or Waylon wasn't on the list. I would think we were in deperate shape rather than bad shape.
Posted by JohnQC 2009-10-23 09:54||   2009-10-23 09:54|| Front Page Top

#12 Songs, Lapdances, and lots of good food! Is there no end to the torture?

Can I get a place there?

Me too . I think I need to get out more !
Posted by Oscar 2009-10-23 10:02||   2009-10-23 10:02|| Front Page Top

#13 Or get in more , as the case may be !
Posted by Oscar 2009-10-23 10:03||   2009-10-23 10:03|| Front Page Top

#14 I have serious credits with two of the groups on the list...

I am SO putting this on my discography... RIGHT NOW!

Thank you Guantanamo for making my day!
Posted by Free Radical 2009-10-23 10:07||   2009-10-23 10:07|| Front Page Top

#15 Don't make me get out the flying....Monkees!
Posted by Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2009-10-23 10:39||   2009-10-23 10:39|| Front Page Top

#16 Guantanamo Gold ®
Posted by Oscar 2009-10-23 10:53||   2009-10-23 10:53|| Front Page Top

#17 Hah Oscar, can't wait for the late-night commercial. "Pining for the days of three squares and free top notch lawyers? Little jihadi believes the infidels that there was no torture? Pick up Guantanamo Gold just in time for Eid!"

"Whenever I get hunger pains, I just press the random button and get so upset, I forget I hungry!"
Posted by swksvolFF 2009-10-23 11:16||   2009-10-23 11:16|| Front Page Top

#18 Music to Torture By ... there's a CD that would go platinum.

Muskrat Love.

Afternoon Delight.
Posted by Steve White 2009-10-23 11:43||   2009-10-23 11:43|| Front Page Top

#19 I've always found REM and Pearl Jam to be torture, myself.

But I think those posers are just pissed they weren't included in the playlist.
Posted by Cornsilk Blondie 2009-10-23 11:49||   2009-10-23 11:49|| Front Page Top

#20 See, guys - once you sell your music, you don't get to say how it's used. You just get royalties.

So STFU, huh?

Twits.
Posted by mojo 2009-10-23 12:27||   2009-10-23 12:27|| Front Page Top

#21 Music hath charms to ease the savage breast.

So, I guess, their output ain't no music.
Posted by AlmostAnonymous5839">AlmostAnonymous5839  2009-10-23 12:50||   2009-10-23 12:50|| Front Page Top

#22 i thought AC/DC was the theme music for special ops
Posted by 746 2009-10-23 13:23||   2009-10-23 13:23|| Front Page Top

#23 As far as pure-d annoying goes:

Ahab the Arab (Ray Stevens)
My Humps (Black Eyed Peas)
The Thong Song (Sisqo)
Livin' La Vida Loca (Ricky Martin)
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go (Wham!)
Barbie Girl (Aqua)
Insane In The Membrane (Cyprus Hill)
Disco Duck (Rick Dees)
I Am Woman (Helen Reddy)
How Much Is That Doggie In The Window (Patti Page)
Don't Worry Be Happy (Bobby McFerrin)
Tiptoe Through The Tulips (Tiny Tim)
Give Peace A Chance (Elton John) (worst cover ever)
Three Little Fishies (Spike Jones)
We Are The World (USA for Africa)
Me So Horny (2 Live Crew) (Uncensored)
Rockin' Robin (Michael Jackson)
Shaddap You Face (Joe Dolce)
Posted by Anonymoose 2009-10-23 14:09||   2009-10-23 14:09|| Front Page Top

#24 Wow those
Are. Eww. Somebody sell them as greatest annoying hits of all time.
Posted by GirlThursday 2009-10-23 14:16||   2009-10-23 14:16|| Front Page Top

#25 Someone forgot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VFgDYkTXUQ

P.S. Cypress Hill doesn't deserve to be on that list.
Posted by Bright Pebbles 2009-10-23 14:22||   2009-10-23 14:22|| Front Page Top

#26 Napoleon XIV on continuous well fused loop, with variations to make the tamberines et al effects change over time, do odd stuff like bass wave effects during high teble notes, echo just noticably behind lead then fade, out back in...
Posted by swksvolFF 2009-10-23 14:26||   2009-10-23 14:26|| Front Page Top

#27 Somebody forgot all hits by Notorious B.I.G, Whitney Houston and Bobbi Brown, all the boy bands and obviously Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake.
Posted by GirlThursday 2009-10-23 14:30||   2009-10-23 14:30|| Front Page Top

#28 Most Annoying Songs -
You forgot:
"The Duke's Duet" from Il Schitzophreno
Posted by mojo 2009-10-23 14:48||   2009-10-23 14:48|| Front Page Top

#29 Don't forget "Hey Mickey", anything by Supertramp, or Led Zepp when Robert Plant is in full, Siamese-cat-being-stapled-to-a-rhino mode.
Posted by Cornsilk Blondie 2009-10-23 15:23||   2009-10-23 15:23|| Front Page Top

#30 "With trees and flowers and chirping birds..."

over & over & over.....

Thanks swksvolFF!
Posted by Mullah Richard 2009-10-23 16:20||   2009-10-23 16:20|| Front Page Top

#31 Shudder.

Western Torture Methods:
1) AC/DC
2) Waterboarding
3) Having a gun stuck in your ear and told to talk

Islamic Torture Methods:
1) Hair torn out
2) Drilled
3) Burned alive (either BBQ style or gasoline & a match)
4) Flayed alive

I can't decide which is worse.

I'm sure HRW and AI can help us out here.
Posted by gorb 2009-10-23 16:39||   2009-10-23 16:39|| Front Page Top

#32 My recurring nightmare is the spice girls (not sure of title) "tell me what you want" (repeats often in song)
Posted by flash91 2009-10-23 16:49||   2009-10-23 16:49|| Front Page Top

#33 Of course you know using Yoko Ono records is prohibited by the Geneva Convention!

Posted by Don Vito Anginegum8261 2009-10-23 16:50||   2009-10-23 16:50|| Front Page Top

#34 Free Radical, you might consider an alternate career offering your services to the DoD and CIA. Just do the opposite of what you normally do to the mix, much more so. You could probably reduce anybody but a serious mix master to a quivering ball in the corner within minutes. The interrogators would probably need wax earplugs, though, like Odysseus' sailors in siren territory.
Posted by trailing wife">trailing wife  2009-10-23 17:50||   2009-10-23 17:50|| Front Page Top

#35 i thought AC/DC was the theme music for special ops

746,
Well, that would explain why it was torture to al Quada.
Posted by Glenmore 2009-10-23 18:12||   2009-10-23 18:12|| Front Page Top

#36 Guantanamo the Musical might make Broadway.
Posted by Skunky Glins****">Skunky Glins****  2009-10-23 19:45||   2009-10-23 19:45|| Front Page Top

#37 Too late. Momma Mia beat you to it.
Posted by ed 2009-10-23 19:48||   2009-10-23 19:48|| Front Page Top

#38 HERESY, HERESY I SAY!

RAP is torture, NOT AC DC, OZZY, etc > I've always felt, and said, that MTV's biggest msitake was MTV Rap.

D *** NG IT, THIS IS WHY ARCHANGELS = BUSH ADMIN DREW LINES IN THE SAND ALA GULF WAR I!
Posted by JosephMendiola">JosephMendiola  2009-10-23 19:49|| na]">[na]  2009-10-23 19:49|| Front Page Top

#39 Wow! JoeM's all fired up! He lost use of his CAPS LOCK key.
By the way, remember the "C" is silent in RAP.
Posted by AlmostAnonymous5839">AlmostAnonymous5839  2009-10-23 20:01||   2009-10-23 20:01|| Front Page Top

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