# Cruel and unusual? Breaking Iraqi prisoners with the help of heavy metal and Barney **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 18, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruel-and-unusual-breaking-iraqi-prisoners-with-the-help-of-heavy-metal-and-barney/176077 "2003-05-18T18:16:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruel-and-unusual-breaking-iraqi-prisoners-with-the-help-of-heavy-metal-and-barney/176077/21 "2003-05-19T12:50:54Z")
Nobody has mentioned Wiliam Shatner? ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruel-and-unusual-breaking-iraqi-prisoners-with-the-help-of-heavy-metal-and-barney/176077/22 "2003-05-19T13:31:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Evil Captor \* > **Sleep deprivation has been found to be one of the most, if not the most, successful techniques for breaking a prisoner. It’s not that the prisoner’s will is crushed by it so much that their sense of what reality is gets kind of slippery and vague, and they lose track of what they’re doing and what they want to say, and what they don’t want to say, and they wind up saying it. It’s also a little more reliable than other forms of torture in that the prisoner isn’t consciously telling you what you want to know, but at some level doesn’t really know what he’s saying, so he’s less capable of lying.** I myself have employed this method of extracting information many times, to great success. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![godzillatemple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruel-and-unusual-breaking-iraqi-prisoners-with-the-help-of-heavy-metal-and-barney/176077/23 "2003-05-19T13:38:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Evil Captor \* > \*\*I doubt if the music is used to break them, the music is used to keep them awake for long periods of time. \*\* Yes, and fortunately, while the bad guys are always well stocked with gas masks and body armor, none of them have access to ear plugs… 😉 Barry ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruel-and-unusual-breaking-iraqi-prisoners-with-the-help-of-heavy-metal-and-barney/176077/24 "2003-05-20T05:37:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by drewbert \* > \*\*Nobody has mentioned Wiliam Shatner? \*\* Dear…God…No…The…Horror…Make… It… Stop… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruel-and-unusual-breaking-iraqi-prisoners-with-the-help-of-heavy-metal-and-barney/176077/25 "2003-05-20T11:11:05Z")
Someone mentioned the other day (I have absolutely no way of knowing wether it is true or [probably] not) that during the Iraq-Iran war Iraq tortured Iranian POWs by forcing them to watch pornographic films. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruel-and-unusual-breaking-iraqi-prisoners-with-the-help-of-heavy-metal-and-barney/176077/26 "2003-05-20T11:49:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Nobody has mentioned Wiliam Shatner? Dear God… Man,… what… are you talking… about? William Shatner… is the greatest… musician… ever. > [@](#): > > Someone mentioned the other day (I have absolutely no way of knowing wether it is true or [probably] not) that during the Iraq-Iran war Iraq tortured Iranian POWs by forcing them to watch pornographic films. Yes, but was it bad porno or good porno? I mean, I can understand how the former would be a pain. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruel-and-unusual-breaking-iraqi-prisoners-with-the-help-of-heavy-metal-and-barney/176077/27 "2003-05-20T16:58:34Z")
Continuing the Waco hijack, I also remember Koresh playing something back at them. (His band, other music?) ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruel-and-unusual-breaking-iraqi-prisoners-with-the-help-of-heavy-metal-and-barney/176077/28 "2003-05-20T21:15:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chimera \* > … and the big guns (everybody sing along now!); > > [i/]And Iiiii-eeee-Iiiii will always love Yoooo-ooo-ooo-oo!"\* Noooooooooooo! Not WITLESS HOUSTON! Please not that! Make it stop! All right, I confess. I’ve bought Pop Tarts, I have three frozen pizzas in my freezer, I like McDonald’s, TV dinners taste good, Happi House is quality Asian cooking, I adore Emiril, shredded coconut is my favorite cake topping, the British are master chefs, anything … please stop it now! ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruel-and-unusual-breaking-iraqi-prisoners-with-the-help-of-heavy-metal-and-barney/176077/29 "2003-05-20T23:52:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zenster \* > All right, I confess. > > I’ve bought Pop Tarts, I have three frozen pizzas in my freezer, I like McDonald’s, TV dinners taste good, Happi House is quality Asian cooking, I adore Emiril, shredded coconut is my favorite cake topping, the British are master chefs, anything … please stop it now! Somehow I suspect this admission will come back to haunt you in a recipe thread. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruel-and-unusual-breaking-iraqi-prisoners-with-the-help-of-heavy-metal-and-barney/176077.md?page=1)