Who knew that a purple dinosaur was just as tough as Metallica. Rumour has it that the US Government has new ways to make people talk. They are exposing Iraqi prisoners to many hours of Barney and Metallica music. I have posted some excerpts from the attached article below. In training, they forced me to listen to the Barney "I Love You" song for 45 minutes. I never want to go through that again," one US operative told the magazine.
"They can't take it. If you play it for 24 hours, your brain and body functions start to slide, your train of thought slows down and your will is broken. That's when we come in and talk to them."
The US's Psychological Operations Company (Psy Ops) said the aim was to break a prisoner's resistance through sleep deprivation and playing music that was culturally offensive to them.
However, human rights organisation, Amnesty International, said such tactics may constitute torture - and coalition forces could be in breach of the Geneva Convention.
This idea of musical torture is a familiar one. The government has tried these tactics for years. I would guess that it must work or they would have given it up long ago. What about this scenario makes it torture, is it the sleep deprivation, the music, or the fact that I would guess, it must be played very loudly. The idea of Barney or for that matter the music of Metallica being torturous, is something I am sure many parents could relate to. Torture is a violent act, is it the intent behind our actions that becomes the weapon or is it the perception of the listener?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3042907.stm
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