Although considering it was the Vatican Embassy, one wishes they'd have thrown in "Hell's Bells."

Yglesias has some good comments on the post.  

There is a strong temptation to make jokes or make light.  For me, the memory came back of when a Tori Amos tape was stuck in my tape deck in my car and all I could do is turn it up or down, but not off.  Repetition of even a good thing can become painful.

IT's just a matter of time before some American recording artist intentionally makes a song for the purpose of torturing captives.  "Proud to be an Amurkin" comes close, but I'm waiting for some idiot to do a punked out screaming tirade against "Islamofascists."

The use of music to torture people is certainly a subject worthy of discussion. But of greater import is when the highly advanced aliens from around the Milky Way who've been picking up '70s disco for a few years now eventually show up, at which point we'll have some serious 'splainin' to do.

After all, the key issues with torture are that (1) you know who's on the receiving end, and (2) they can't do anything about it.  These issues are far more important than any information, true or not, one might extract when you're, say, pouring water into the breathing passages of some guy tied down in a bathtub. The last thing you want is to be inadvertently torturing something with the ability to traverse intergalactic wormholes and melt the skin off your face with its breath. (If you DO know whom you're torturing and they CAN'T subsequently effect retribution, why, then you can go sit in front of a Congressional committee in a nice suit and tie and earnestly explain how National Security forced your hand. You might even get a medal or maybe even a book deal out of the experience.)

You would no more attempt to single-handedly waterboard a roomful of angry, unfettered Islamofascists than you would tell a spaceship full of fire-breathing alien monsters, "Hey, is that your face or is your butthole on the wrong end?"

In short, it's better to be a successful bullying coward than kindling for critters with superior technology.

If I were subject to Nickleback and Creed for hours, I would give up my mother.

The use of music in torture has actually begun to come under scholarly scrutiny at least, as well as becoming the subject of some degree of protest.  A commenter on the Yglesias article posted this link, to a preliminary study on  the subject, which I suppose may be of curiosity to some:

www.sibetrans.com/.../cusick_eng.htm