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Musicians Demand Records On Bush Administration's Use Of Music For Torture
A group of prominent musicians are joining a campaign to close Guantanamo Bay and demanding the release of records about what music was used during the potential torture of detainees there and at other facilities.
Some of the more famous names in the music industry are formally lending their prestige to an effort being led by retired generals, progressive groups and a former member of Congress to shut GITMO down. The list includes Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Jackson Browne, Rise Against, Rosanne Cash, Billy Bragg and the Roots, all of whom are joining the broader National Campaign to Close Guantanamo which was launched earlier in the week.
Hoping to cast further light on the potential illegalities that took place at the detention facility, the group is also working to obtain records about why and how music was used (under laws authorized by the Bush administration) to effectively torture suspected terrorists. The musicians have officially endorsed a Freedom of Information Act request for the declassification of all secret government records pertaining to music utilized during interrogations. At least two members of the coalition, Reznor and Morello, have had their music linked to interrogations.
"Guantanamo is known around the world as one of the places where human beings have been tortured -- from water boarding, to stripping, hooding and forcing detainees into humiliating sexual acts -- playing music for 72 hours in a row at volumes just below that to shatter the eardrums," said Morello, in a statement provided by the NCCG. "Guantanamo may be Dick Cheney's idea of America, but it's not mine. The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me -- we need to end torture and close Guantanamo now."
The National Security Archives will be officially filing the FOIA request on behalf of the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo (NCCG).
The FOIA request comes on the heels of a renewed effort on behalf of the NCCG and others to compel Congress to complete GITMO's closure. The group launched a national ad campaign earlier in the week, in which it argued that the continued operation of the detention facility was undermining America's reputation in the world community and Congress' standing as a legislative body.
That spot, as well as the broader NCCG effort, was put together by retired Generals Robert Gard, John Johns, as well as former member of Congress, Tom Andrews (D-Maine), and Vote Vets Chairman and Iraq War veteran, Jon Soltz, all of whom have been vocal critics of the use of GITMO to house suspected terrorists. The Obama administration has echoed the campaign's concerns. But they have also all but conceded that the facility will not be shut down in the 2009 calendar year.
The decision behind issuing a FOIA request for additional information actually took root well before the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo came to fruition. Working with the New York University School of Law's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, Trevor FitzGibbon -- a well-known progressive communications adviser -- began looking into the use of music as an interrogation method on terrorist suspects. Over the course of six months the idea of putting a microscope on this sliver of interrogation policy festered until he brought it to others who were pushing to shut GITMO down. FitzGibbon, who is doing much of the public relations work for the NCCG, was able to recruit musicians to the cause due, in part, to his past work with the industry on other political issues.
The FOIA, which is officially being distributed on Thursday, will be sent to the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, the U.S. Southern Command, U.S. Central Command, U.S. Joint Forces Command, U.S. Army Special Forces Command, DOA Criminal Investigative Task Force, Defense Intelligence Agency, Federal Communications Commission, FBI, CIA, and the Department of Justice.
It requests "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 use of jarring music during the interrogation of suspected terrorists has been reported in many works documenting the authorization of torture during the Bush administration. At least 20 declassified documents currently exist that reference the use of "loud" music to "create futility" in uncooperative detainees. Among the artists whose music is believed to have been used include Metallica, Britney Spears, the Drowning Pool, Eminem, Bruce Springsteen and the Bee Gees.
Not all of these bands and musicians signed on to the NCCG FOIA. But others, whose music was not reportedly used, did so out of philosophical objections.
"We have spent the past 30 years supporting causes related to peace and justice," read a statement from REM, "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. It's anti-American, period."
Added the hip-hop band The Roots: "When we found out that music was being used as part of the torture going on at Guantanamo, shackling and beating people -- we were angry. Just as we wouldn't be caught dead allowing Dick Cheney to use our music for his campaigns, you can be damn sure, we wouldn't allow him to use it to torture other human beings. Congress needs to shut Guantanamo down."
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57 Comments so far
Show AllI suspect there was at least one "Tiny Tim" recording involved in this travesty of the Geneva Convention... ;-)
this is not a joking matter.
REM missed the point completely:
"...a statement from REM, "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. It's anti-American, period."
Whoa! Not that the music was an element of torture but the fact that it was used without "their consent". Perhaps Buck, Mills, and Stipe would like their friends to collect some royalties?
I don't agree with your assessment. It's pretty clear to me that they object to their music being used for torture.
Seriously, perhaps intellectual property attornies could exercise more leverage against the Dubya Regime than Congress or other entities.
The entertainment lawyers could cite the US Constitution's Copyright Clause and then resume violating it relentlessly.
....and Barry Manilow.
Probably had Ted Nugent play live while they were beating down the "detainees".
Yeah, Ted Nugent would gladly allow his recordings to be used for torture - or even play live as you wrote...
Ted Nugent recordings are torture under any circumstance.
Rap music would have me talking.
Play some Billy Jowel. It's torture to food shop and buy gas to the "Piano Man" It's still rock and rowel to me!
We have a friend who was held in jail and tortured under Pinochet in Chile. She says they played Billy Joel's "Piano Man" incessantly, presumably because it asks someone to "sing". It literally makes our friend sick to hear it.
Joe
Billy Jowel‘s music is uniquely qualified for torture. After all, he graduated from the United States Nasal Academy.
Perhaps the soundtrack from Clockwork Orange would have been more appropriate.
Very good link to WFMU interview with SUZANNE G. CUSICK who has researched and written extensively about the use of music and torture. (“You are in a place that is out of the world. . .”: Music in the Detention Camps of the “Global War on Terror”)
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/33221
Some might think this article trivial, but it is just another indication that various segments of society outrightly reject torture of any kind - including that described above.
Any human being is capable of doing evil. The problem is when the system knowingly places evil people in control situations where they can inhumanely abuse others. America under Bush had reached that point. Jest if you wish - but the results of such torture drove innocent human beings mad.
rem is after royalties,
jackson righteous browne is after right-
The music popular with the young of our misculture at any given time reflects perfectly their souls. True in the Mississippi Delta with Robert Johnson, true as Viet-Nam's inferno ignited a pure from the heart cry embodied in CCR, Janis, Hendrix and Jim; and a pure distillate of Johnson's deal with a devil down at the crossroads blues.
Born in slavery the blues is God-the Power as manifest by Clapton covering crossroads and Jimmy Page, we owe every note to our Black brothers and sister. mo blues no rock & roll
and check white boy
them notes rap nice
Tupac was a Knight
glad ya found it
and yo no belt style
No musicians against war today-they sing about killing and do not give a damn who lives or dies; OUR CULTURE IS DEAD, NO EMPATHY=THEY HAVE NO MUSIC IT DIED WHEN THEY STOPPED CARING ABOUT OTHERS. 1975.
Are caucasions genetically coded to have to borrow, not create music? no sweat.
As a doorman in SF in the eighties, the toughest aspect of the job was the vapid inane flat foor backbeat disco new wave punk sound we spun (discs) for the mindless drones that paid to hear sounds made on machines in studios by formulae.
Then God sent me, personally, The Pretenders, and i was back on the chain gang.
Good comments, and neat delivery of them!
Your really tired comments regarding the lack of due caring amongst today's musical act is merely the inaccurate groans of someone whom has not kept up.
A partial list:
Anti-Flag, Pennywise, Green Day, Rage Against the Machine (whom were cited in the piece), Bad Religion, Street Dogs, Time Again, Billy Bragg, D.O.A., Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine, Killing Joke, Machine Head, Midnight Oil, Rise Against.
Do yourself and the denizens of this board a favor: get a clue about current music before commenting on it.
All kidding aside, ever wonder what kind of doctors that are assigned to these torture units? Do they get down on the floor and count to ten when they think the suspect has endured enough torture? Do they moonlight in America's death chambers hooking up IVs and checking for pulses?
All kidding aside, I have noticed that most of my doctors were/are perverts, control freaks, disconnected automatons or God's first cousins. And if they're doctors whose medical educations have been paid for by the any of the US armed forces, they are OWNED by the service, just like the grunts.
Closing Gitmo means more to me than just closing down the prison and its torture chambers. The whole base must be closed down, cleansed of its numerous pollutants and its troops, and returned to Cuba with all possible speed.
Dig it! Then get those shamanic priests from Guatamala that cleansed the burial site in Guatamala that Dumbya and company visited in order to exorcise the foul spirits inhabiting the place.
Poet
Don't tell the torturers about Captain Beefheart! There's no telling the harm they could do.
Oh, my, yes. But at least there was the small joy of 'Willie the Pimp' on HOT RATS.
How ironic!
They could only convict Al Capone of tax evasion, and Gitmo tortureers will only face justice at the hands of ASCAP for copyright infringement and not paying royalties!
". Among the artists whose music is believed to have been used include Metallica, Britney Spears, the Drowning Pool, Eminem, Bruce Springsteen and the Bee Gees.
Not all of these bands and musicians signed on to the NCCG FOIA."
Which bands and musicians specifically did not sign on?
A campaign to boycott them needs to be launched.
I would bet Metallica is one of those. James Hetfield, is a super-wealthy arrogant @$$&*+! and a right-wing freako. Besides, their music sucked ever since Cliff Burton died in 1988. Bunch of corporate metal sell-outs.
On the other end, Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Street Sweeper Social Club) is a card-carrying member of the Communist Party and has more talent than Hetfield ever dreamed of.
Metallica are probably split about it: while Hetfield is conservative, Lars Ulrich is typical European Social Democratic (he's even appeared on Maddow).
If it was anything, it was rap. Rap is extremely boring and obnoxious. If I was subjected to rap 24/7 I'd rat out my buddies too.
Play ANY music at high decibels ad infinitum and it will be a torture.
The next question is, will the musicians sound out about Bagram?
This is a good move by the musicians. Nobody should be able to use their music without permission and payment of royalties. Like I always say, you cannot predict the ways in which resistance will take place. Bravo!
I believe that the music products played in supermarkets - usually atonal nasal whining by suburban youngsters pretending to be deeply injured by life - is also meant to make us lose control of our facilities and start buying things without taking the time to check for high fructose corn syrup. Somebody must have done a study illustrating that pseudo music triggers the getting and spending reflex.
Joe
Joe, that's an interesting consideration re a correlation between listening to pseudo music and consuming corn syrup.
There is a regional gas station/convenience chain store that plays music and audio advertisements for their cheap gas and coffee via speakers located at their pumps. At the same time, at the pump, they also display advertisements for their coffee on a screen above the pump.
So, you are supposed to be consumed with thoughts of buying their various cheap and addictive products while you pump. A nice marketing scheme.
Sheetz coffee used to be pretty good; it stinks now, though.
I like the way their sandwich deli allows you to order you sandwich via a CRT touch screen without ever having to talk to, or even look at, another, minimum wage-earning, human being.
"I like the way their sandwich deli allows you to order you sandwich via a CRT touch screen without ever having to talk to, or even look at, another, minimum wage-earning, human being."
They do that at Get N Go too. It's not only impersonable but also inefficient. It's faster just to tell them what you want.
"I believe that the music products played in supermarkets - usually atonal nasal whining by suburban youngsters pretending to be deeply injured by life - is also meant to make us lose control of our facilities and start buying things without taking the time to check for high fructose corn syrup."
Conversely, one could argue that music with simple pleasant melodies is meant to put one into a pleasant stupor so that one starts buying things without checking labels or price comparison.
That too.
Joe
Maybe if they had played some real American music like the blues, jazz, gospel, soul, bluegrass, and R&B, at reasonable volumes, they could have gotten a different result. Worked for us.
GOOD for them to do this.
their statement hopefully also would extend to ALL facilities.
there is a famous story - quite true -
of one of the greatest composers to ever live...
Ludwig Beethoven that everyone is familiar with from the famous "tunes" cut out of his great symphonies - such as the "9th symphony" and its "ODE TO JOY" now familiar to phone users and all that kind of thing...
in it he used "brotherhood of all men" speaking basically of JUSTICE for all.. that is the theme of his ENTIRE life's work and whose own last years as a composer and musician was as a DEAF one (from contracting syphillis in the early 19th century).
at one point he composed one of his great works :
the Third Symphony - known today as "EROICA"
"Heroic".
he originally dedicated it with much flourish to Napoleon Bonaparte when napoleon was among the leaders of the French revolt against the Nobilities and Kings and queens.
but when napoleon crowned HIMSELF as "emperor of france"..
and Beethoven heard the news...he tore the first manuscripts of his great Symphony...
and scratched on a new hand written copy:
"TO THE MEMORY of a Great Man".
it is believed to be a statement of the feeling of betrayal ...because Beethoven, upon hearing that news of "emperor" napoleon...
remarked angrily:
"SO -- he is just another Tyrant".
Hard Luck Cafe - Gitmo
Pheeewwww! Better late than never...
For those who read Common Dreams - or other such sites - regularly, we all know what Guantanamo (and other places, too) has represented for so many years.
The music scene used to be at the vanguard of protest but now they seem to take a long time to wake up!
Still, better late than never.
From a 'Woodstock Generation' grandpa
The Dixie Chicks condemned Bush & Cheney right away.
(I give them my highest praise.) Yet, so much of our COWARDLY citizens rallied behind Bush because they were scared. Those cowardly Americans were the ones to criticize The Dixie Chicks and support Bush/Cheney.
(The statistical chance of being hurt/killed by a terrorist was much, MUCH less than being hurt/killed by some other type of criminal. That's why I was never fearful of terrorists.... the possibility is just too low. But most people don't think logically.)
These musicians show that there are still SOME good Americans.
However, it is sad to see that even here, writing commentary, there are a few really, REALLY rotten, despicable guys (I won't call them human, because they are not kind and cannot accurately be called human. They are just terrible and horrid.)
Lastly, "Woodstock Generation grandpa", I give you a smile. You are one of the truly good, patriotic Americans.
>>The music scene used to be at the vanguard of protest but now they seem to take a long time to wake up!
I hear it on the radio one day, the next day it is on a commercial selling shiny gas guzzlers or pimping credit cards. The music scene has sold out, lock, stock and barrel. They aren't asleep, they are in the pockets of the corporate fascists. Just another tool to sell more crap.
They do realize that the Taliban banned all music and would destroy CDs, tapes, radios ect while they were in control of Afghanistan? That the people they are protesting to protect would gladly shoot them in the back of the head just for being musicians?
Political Activists no, Hopping on a band wagon for some free publicity, yeah, probably.
Thinking like a decent person is beyond YOUR capability.
It REALLY isn't hard to "get it".
#1) People were rounded up in the Mid East, when they were turned in because those turning someone in received a LOT of money (by their financial standards).
It was common for someone to turn in a person simply because the "money receiver" disliked the other one.
#2) Our rotten Bush Administration wouldn't put the men on trial. For anyone who is completely "clueless", a trial goes over evidence in detail IN ORDER to determine the guilt OR INNOCENCE of the person on trial.
But these guys didn't get that.
In reality, The Bush Administration realized that they screwed up (what else is new?) and knew that most of the prisoners were innocent.
#3) Even the "somewhat clueless" in The Bush Administration knew what the experts know.... that torture, besides being an INTERNATIONAL CRIME, and a WAR CRIME, also doesn't produce RELIABLE, accurate information. Torture is just a way to be horrid and rotten AND for the government doing the torture to terrorize THEIR citizens (that is, to make Americans, in this cas, fearful of their government).
This is one MORE thing to add to the list of why Bush, Cheney, etc. are so criminal that they should be arrested and put on trial in THE WORLD COURT.
#1) People were rounded up in the Mid East, when they were turned in because those turning someone in received a LOT of money (by their financial standards).
It was common for someone to turn in a person simply because the "money receiver" disliked the other one.
until you have been there (I have, at least five times) you really cant speak for what happened 'in the Middle East'.
It is hard for some one to 'get it' when they live in a clean little world where they have never seen how ugly reality is.
In other words, get out and do something constructive. You want to make a change in the middle east, go there as a volunteer with a NGO like Halo Trust http://www.halotrust.org/ and pull land mines out of the ground so farmers can farm and people can walk to work in safety. You could work with Mercy Corps http://www.mercycorps.org/ if risking your neck is not your thing and feed some one, or dig them out of the mud. If nothing else just donate, throw money at it like Americans like to do because for the most part they do not like to get their hands dirty or suffer for the greater good of mankind
You must be the change you want to see in the world. Mahatma Gandhi
"until you have been there (I have, at least five times) you really cant speak for what happened 'in the Middle East'.
It is hard for some one to 'get it' when they live in a clean little world where they have never seen how ugly reality is. "
And what exactly has this to do with the Taliban and their idiocy, and the torture conducted by Americans in Guantanamo?
What does the Taliban have to do with Americans torturing people in Guantanamo?
Awright, I know I'm gonna get some heat for this (which I'll rightfully deserve for being insensitive to the issue) but the vision of torture to the tunes of Swan Lake is a hysterically funny one indeed, particularly, if you imagine the torturers wearing pink tutus and slippers.
So, now, bite me!
You are literally despicable.
Perhaps the only way to get through to you is this.....
If your mind is capable, imagine (I know that making a little effort might be too much, but try being a little decent and make a little effort)
Imagine someone who you care about being arrested. They are innocent (like the vast majority of those rounded up and imprisoned at Gitmo) but they are considered guilty and are held in prison for years, without a trial.
During this time, your love one is tortured.
IF YOU ARE CONSISTENT, you would think that this is alright.
Would you?
Seriously, VERY seriously you would not write what you did unless you are barbaric, horrid, rotten.
You are mentally a subhuman.
These musicians are wonderful.
I am especially pleased that Rosanne Cash is one of them. She has "grown on me" over the years. Starting 25 years ago, she was one of my favorite female country singers.
It is ironic that Reba McEntire was my favorite about 20 years ago, but when she was such a staunch supporter of Bush and harshly criticized The Dixie Chicks, I considered her as low of a life form as a singer can be. (But not as low as Cheney, Bush, Rove, etc.)
Anyway Rosanne Cash became my favorite female country singer about ten years ago.
And if she wasn't, she would be now.
In the above article, one musician said, "Guantanamo may be Dick Cheney's idea of America, but it's not mine."
Any American who disagrees with that sentence, is NOT a patriotic American who cares about his/her country.
Yes, Dick Cheney is a horrid, rotten excuse of a man.
Men don't come any lower.
And he needs to be put in prison for the rest of his life.
Eric Holder, you need to begin doing your job.