Torture Hits Home

The Torture Playlist

Music has been used in American military prisons and on bases to induce sleep deprivation, "prolong capture shock," disorient detainees during interrogations—and also drown out screams. Based on a leaked interrogation log, news reports, and the accounts of soldiers and detainees, here are some of the songs that guards and interrogators chose. Read about the guards here.

UPDATE (March 4): Listen to investigative reporter Justine Sharrock explain why the Meow Mix jingle, Neil Diamond, and the Barney theme song all lend themselves to "no-touch torture." Plus: How Metallica reacted when they found out how their music was being used. —By Gary Moskowitz


Fri Feb. 22, 2008 1:00 AM PST

 

NOTE: The specific song or songs by Rage Against The Machine are unspecified.

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Justine Sharrock is a former Mother Jones staffer. Her book Tortured: How Our Cowardly Leaders Abused Prisoners, American Soldiers, and Everything We're Fighting For, will be out in June. For more of her stories, click here.

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