The Roots Ain’t Torture

in Headline Politics by tigger500 — October 26, 2009 at 12:45 pm | 0 comments

So I’m at work, minding my own business, gettin my write on and I stumble across this post on ACLU’s Blog of Rights:

Today, a group of musicians, including REM, Pearl Jam and The Roots filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to find out whether their music was played at the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay.  The request for information stems from former Guantánamo detainees’ testimony and released government documents that document that music has been used as part of interrogations.

The Roots said in a statement, “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 Guantánamo down.”

Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, another of the artists who initiated the FOIA request, stated, “Guantánamo 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 Guantánamo now.”

Documents that the ACLU has uncovered through our five-year-old FOIA request about the abuse and torture of detainees in U.S. custody detail how “torture music” was used.

Umm, say what?!?

I’m still unsure why torture is a controversial issue.  You’d think this’d be the one thing we all could agree we should not be doing.

Sad.

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Tags: aclu dick cheney FOIA Pearl Jam rage against the machine REM the roots tom morello torture torture music