Pearl Jam, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and R.E.M. are among the musicians supporting the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo: from Musicians Standing Against Torture .
Musicians crank up the volume on Guantanamo debate. AP:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A coalition of mega-bands and singers outraged that music - including theirs - was cranked up to help break uncooperative detainees at Guantanamo Bay is joining retired military officers and liberal activists to rally support for President Barack Obama's push to shutter the Navy-run prison for terrorist suspects in Cuba.
Pearl Jam, R.E.M., and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails are among the musicians who have joined the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo, which launched Tuesday.
On behalf of the campaign, the National Security Archive in Washington is filing a Freedom of Information Act request seeking classified records that detail the use of loud music as an interrogation device.
"At Guantanamo, the U.S. government turned a jukebox into an instrument of torture," said Thomas Blanton, executive director of the archive, an independent, nongovernmental research institute.
Based on documents that already have been made public and interviews with former detainees, the archive says the playlist featured cuts from AC/DC, Britney Spears, the Bee Gees, Marilyn Manson and many other groups. The Meow mix cat food jingle, the Barney theme song and an assortment of Sesame Street tunes also were pumped into detainee cells.
Empty Wheel has the complete list of bands in Rage Against Musical Torture. The request begins,
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), I hereby request the following:
All documents, including but not limited to intelligence reports, briefings, transcripts, talking points, meeting minutes, memoranda, cables, audio/visual recordings and emails produced by the Central Intelligence Agency concerning the use of loud music as a technique to interrogate detainees at U.S.-operated prison facilities at Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan during 2002-the present.
The documents we seek include but are not limited to records that contain explicit references to the following bands or songs, among any other bands or songs mentioned:
It's a motley crew that also includes Meatloaf, James Taylor and Prince. (The Meow Mix jingle seems especially evil.)
Back in December, AP moved a story about the musicians' FOIA request (Musicians want U.S. to stop using their songs to torment prisoners) with links to some of the songs.
In a nod that seems a nonsequitur, AP ends it latest story with, "A group opposing the closure of the prison, Keep America Safe, said in a statement Tuesday that those held at Guantanamo are dedicated to killing Americans."
Many of the musicians would probably agree, but the issue here is not "Pussycats or Predators: You Decide."
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