Guantanamo is famous for the terrorist inmates but also for the methods used against them. In a word, torture. On top of that half of the prisoners have been cleared but remain in prison, having never been tried or convicted.
After 9/11, the US government launched a massive man hunt. Most of the prisoners were captured by the Pakistani army in Pakistan and sold back to the American authorities for $5000 each. With the US government encouraging the population to denounce terrorists, many foreigners were arrested without justification and languished in Guantanamo since then.
Barack Obama acknowledged this situation and tried to rehabilitate these men on American territory but opposition from Republicans and the population made it impossible.
Now, NGOs and human rights lawyers are trying their best to find countries able to welcome these men who can’t go back to their country because of the risk of persecution from all sides. The process is long and prisoners are beginning to lose hope, with some going on hunger strike or even committing suicide. What is the solution for these men accidentally caught in the war on terror?
Speaking to soldiers, psychologists and prisoners tortured with his music at Guantanamo, Sesame Street composer Christopher Cerf finds out how the military has been employing music as a potent weapon for hundreds of years.
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