The closing of the Spectrum has been the most drawn-out affair since the 2000 election, maybe since the death of Generalissimo Francisco Franco. Bruce would have been a fitting end, but there was AC/DC and now there's Hall and Oates and then, finally, four Pearl Jam concerts. But actually, you know what's taking even longer to close?
Gitmo.
Some of the more famous names in the music industry are formally lending their prestige to an effort being led by retired generals, progressive groups and a former member of Congress to shut GITMO down. The list includes Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Jackson Browne, Rise Against, Rosanne Cash, Billy Bragg and the Roots, all of whom are joining the broader National Campaign to Close Guantanamo which was launched earlier in the week.
Hoping to cast further light on the potential illegalities that took place at the detention facility, the group is also working to obtain records about why and how music was used (under laws authorized by the Bush administration) to effectively torture suspected terrorists. The musicians have officially endorsed a Freedom of Information Act request for the declassification of all secret government records pertaining to music utilized during interrogations. At least two members of the coalition, Reznor and Morello, have had their music linked to interrogations.
"Guantanamo is known around the world as one of the places where human beings have been tortured -- from water boarding, to stripping, hooding and forcing detainees into humiliating sexual acts -- playing music for 72 hours in a row at volumes just below that to shatter the eardrums," said Morello, in a statement provided by the NCCG. "Guantanamo 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 Guantanamo now."
OK, closing Guantanamo Bay maybe isn't quite as easy as blowing up the Spectrum, but there's been no excuse for President Obama not to get this done in a year as he promised the American people, first during the campaign and then right after he took office. That was the kind of promise that led to the president's premature Nobel Peace Prize; in a perfect world whether he gets to keep it or not should be predicated on what he does about Gitmo between now and late January. And if Obama can't keep that promise, maybe we should listen to Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam...and find a better man.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
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