Rock Stars and Generals Against Gitmo

Rock Bands and retired generals are joining forces to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison in support of President Barack Obama's pledge to close it by January. 

The BBC reports that musicians such as REM and Pearl Jam, signed on to the national campaign last week, spearheaded by Rep. Tom Andrews from Maine as a protest because their music was used for interrogation purposes at the prison.

A report by the Senate Armed Services Committee last year made several references to music being used to "stress" prisoners. A statement by REM reported by the BBC says: "We have spent the past 30 years supporting causes related to peace and justice. To now learn that some of our friends' music may have been used as part of the torture tactics without their consent or knowledge, is horrific. It's anti-American, period."

Other artists to sign on to the campaign include Jackson Browne, Steve Earle, Roseanne Cash, Billy Bragg, Bonnie Raitt and Rage Against The Machine.

The spokeswoman for the Joint Task Force says loud music hasn't been used with detainees since 2003 and the CIA defended itself to the BBC saying loud music or white noise was needed for security rather than "punitive" purposes. 

No matter what it was used for, the playlist at Gitmo still seems rather suspect. According the the National Security Archive, tracks by ACDC, Britney Spears, the BeeGees and Marilyn Manson were used as well as the Meow Mix cat food jingle ("Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow ... ), the Barney theme song and Sesame Street Tunes.

Anyone out there have all of that on their iPod?

Photo courtesy of takomabibelot via Flickr.