WAR ON TERROR - Band 'Skinny Puppy' Gets Big DoD Paycheck

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"Here’s A Copy Of The Invoice Skinny Puppy Drafted For The Pentagon For Using Its Songs At Guantanamo" by Jason Leopold, The Public Record 2/5/2014

There’s been quite a bit of media attention directed toward Skinny Puppy over the past week following revelations that the industrial band’s music was allegedly used during the interrogations of “war on terror” suspects detained at Guantanamo.  Band members said they were informed in March 2013 by ex-Guantanamo guard Terry Holdbrooks [see update] that its songs were used as a form of torture at the detention facility.  Following that disclosure, Skinny Puppy drafted a $666,000 invoice for the U.S. government for using its songs. But the band never sent the invoice. [See update 2.]

Despite all of the news coverage Skinny Puppy has received over the past week revolving around the invoice, it appears that reporters never bothered to ask members of the band for a copy of the document.  But I did.  Here it is (at top).  It’s dated March 7, 2013 and addressed to “Guantanamo Intelligence.”

In an interview Wednesday afternoon with HuffPostLive, Kevin “Ogre” Ogilvie, Skinny Puppy’s lead singer, discusses the story behind the invoice, how the band arrived at the $666,000 figure, and gives a shout out to yours truly for trying to obtain information via the Freedom of Information Act about the use of songs during interrogations at Guantanamo.  (Segment starts at 21:51).

UPDATE (2/7/14):  Former Guantanamo guard Terry Holdbrooks told me he first met Skinny Puppy in 2011 and interviewed band members.  It was during this 2011 interview that he informed them that their music was used at Guantanamo as a form of torture.  The issue resurfaced in early 2013 when the band was working on a documentary and that’s when the invoice was created.

UPDATE 2 (2/7/14):  Band members said they “recently” mailed a copy of the invoice to the Department of Defense and the Defense Intelligence Agency, which had played a role in developing and overseeing some of the interrogation techniques used at Guantanamo.