[3]: 3 [4]: 5 Trainees of the interrogation preparation program, Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE), were subjected to looping, cacophonous sounds such as babies crying and a Yoko Ono album.
[6]: xx Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez officially approved of the use of auditory stimuli or music during interrogations in April and September of 2003, respectively.
In 1978, the European Court of Human Rights found that the use of the "five techniques", which included exposure to noise, against IRA prisoners constituted inhuman and degrading treatment but stopped short of calling it torture.
Mohammed al-Qahtani, who was alleged to have attempted to participate in the September 11 attacks, was subjected to music, including songs in Arabic, during late night interrogations and medical treatment as a form of sleep deprivation.
[3]: 11–14 Mohamedou Ould Slahi, detained at Guantanamo Bay for his alleged ties to the millennium plot and the September 11 attacks, was shackled in a room lit entirely by strobe lights with the song "Bodies" by Drowning Pool blaring for hours during an interrogation.
[20] In an interview with ITV News, detainee Shaker Aamer said that rock music, including Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", was played into cells during prayer time.
[21][22] Ruhal Ahmed was forced to squat in a dark, cold cell while heavy metal and Eminem music was played extremely loudly for hours and sometimes days at a time.
Interrogators later placed him inside a small room lit only by a strobe light, tied him up in a stress position, and played heavy metal for several hours per day for three weeks straight.
"[32] Abu Zubaydah was bombarded by extremely loud music in a small wooden box to induce learned helplessness at a CIA black site in Thailand by two psychologists associated with SERE training.
However, the Royal Music Association and the British Forum for Ethnomusicology, both based in the UK, another country tied to the war on terror, declined to issue similar statements.
[39]: 17–18 Melissa Kagen, writing in The Appendix argued that the relatively light-hearted reactions of those first learning about music to torture in Guantanamo Bay originated in American exceptionalism.
Tom Morello, member of Rage Against the Machine, said in response "The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me" and called for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison.
[27] David Gray, whose song "Babylon" was used during interrogations, was shocked by the lack of public outcry and said "We are thinking below the level of the people we're supposed to oppose, and it goes against our entire history and everything we claim to represent.
"[11] Skinny Puppy, after being told by Guantanamo prison guard Terry Holdbrooks that their music was blasted during interrogations, wrote the album Weapon and sent an invoice to the American government for $666,000 upon its release.
[45][46][47] The recording industry was reluctant to confront the issue, and when The Guardian reached out to several artists whose music was reportedly used in American detainment camps, most who did respond gave a "no comment".
Bob Singleton, the music director of Barney & Friends, laughed when learning of the theme song "I Love You" being used by interrogators and argued that it was ludicrous to believe it could psychologically alter detainees.