Music as Interrogation Technique in the "Global War on Terror"

Overview of "Loud Music" in Detention Camps

• "Loud music" was a standard, openly acknowledged component of "harsh interrogation" in U.S. detention camps from $2002$ to $2006$ across various locations: Bagram, Camp Nama, Forward Operating Base Tiger, Mosul Air Force Base, Guantanamo, and "dark prisons."

• Its purpose was aligned with the "futility" approach in U.S. Army interrogation manuals, aiming to persuade detainees that resistance was pointless.

• First-person accounts from interrogators and former detainees, along with unclassified military documents, confirm its widespread use.

Historical and Psychological Basis

• Techniques, including acoustic ones, originated from psychological research in the $1950s$ (Canada, U.S., UK) and were codified in the $1963$ CIA KUBARK interrogation manual.

• The core principle involves sensory deprivation or overload to disrupt a person's psychological orientation, making them susceptible to interrogation.

• Unrelenting sound, loud or soft, was believed to break down resistance, enhance sleep deprivation effects, and mask inner thoughts.

Detainee Experiences and Specific Applications

• "Dark Prisons": Detainees like Laid Saidi experienced "deafening Western music." M.Z. and Benyam Mohammad reported loud rap or heavy metal, sometimes for weeks.

• Bagram Air Force Base: Initially silent, by autumn $2002$, Bagram used highly intensified music (Marilyn Manson, Bee Gees) for "disorientation." Moazzam Begg, a detainee, noted the severe impact on others.

• Camp Nama: Employed a "black room" with speakers for "harsh interrogations" using loud noise.

• Forward Operating Base Tiger: Loud music (e.g., heavy metal, "Barney" theme song), strobe lights, yelling, and stress positions were deployed upon a detainee's first "wrong answer."

• Mosul Air Force Base ("The Disco"): An interrogation room (shipping container) used a strobe light and boom box playing "awful death metal music" to disorient and anger detainees. Interrogator Tony Lagouranis described his own escalating aggression.

• Guantanamo Bay: Muhammad al-Qatani's interrogation log (23 November $2002$ – 11 January $2003$) detailed Christina Aguilera's music as part of a "music theme" designed to keep him awake, agitate him, and exploit his religious beliefs (Islam's stance on music), forcing him into a perceived state of sin.

The "Futility" Technique and Legal Status

• The use of "loud music" and "gender coercion" was officially justified under the "futility" technique, aiming to induce hopelessness and helplessness.

• A $2005$ Army investigation at Guantanamo found yelling and loud music permissible "futility" techniques, only recommending "specific guidance on the length of time" for music exposure.

• The U.S. legal definition of torture, based on $1994$ declarations, categorizes many of these tactics as "counter-resistance strategies," not legally torture.

Broader Implications

• Music and "gender coercion" target cultural beliefs and ethical practices, aiming for psychic rather than physical pain, potentially leading to "self-betrayal" and a "psychic break."

• The process risks interrogators committing