Having been goaded into it by Andrew Sullivan, I’ve been delving into the Society of Ethnomusicology’s recommended position paper on Music as Torture and was struck by this: As early as May 2003 the BBC reported that the US Army had used Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” and Barney the Purple Dinosaur’s “I Love You” in the interrogation of Iraqi detainees. That Barney song’s the one that goes:

I love you You love me We’re a great big family… You can understand why it would be disturbing to captured Baathists, cowering terrified and muttering, “Oh God, those human shields from Berkeley are back.” On the other hand, attempting to clarify the Prophet’s line on the issue, Mullah Abdul Rauf of the Herati Mosque in Kabul, said in April last year:

Music is not banned in Islam but to get enjoyment from music is banned. So Barney the Dinosaur may, in fact, be very culturally appropriate. Perhaps Mullah Rauf could advise