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.” |