Periscope

PSYOPS: Cruel and Unusual

Washington may be trying to win hearts and minds in Iraq. But those recalcitrant Saddam supporters who don't want to hear of it are being forced to listen to a very different message. Some U.S. military units have taken to exposing uncooperative Iraqis to long doses of heavy-metal music or even popular children's songs in an effort to convince them not to resist Coalition forces. "Trust me, it works," says one U.S. operative on the ground. "In training, they forced me to listen to the Barney 'I Love You' song for 45 minutes. I never want to go through that again."

The idea, explains Sgt. Mark Hadsell, is to break down a subject's resistance through sleep deprivation and annoyance with music that is as culturally offensive and terrifying as possible. Hadsell's personal favorites include "Bodies" from the "XXX" soundtrack and Metallica's "Enter Sandman." "These people haven't heard heavy metal before," he explained. "They can't take it. If you play it for 24 hours, your brain and body functions start to slide, your train of thought slows down and your will is broken. That's when we come in and talk to them." The sledgehammer riffs of Metallica, that's understandable. But can children's songs really break a strong mind? (Two current favorites are the "Sesame Street" theme song and the crooning purple dinosaur Barney--for 24 hours straight.) In search of comment from Barney's people, Hit Entertainment, NEWSWEEK endured five minutes of Barney while on hold. Yes, it broke us, too.

--Adam Piore

Campaign 2004: The Dean Machine

Many things in U.S. politics--soaring promises, hearty handshakes--are immutable. But the media methods for reaching voters keep evolving. In 1980, Ronald Reagan's team overrode hostile reporting on broadcast news with irresistibly cinematic photo --ops. In 1992, Bill Clinton's battalions understood that cable and satellite uplinks--and the "rapid response" they made possible--were the next new thing. And although Al Gore may have claimed to have invented the Internet, Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean of Vermont is actually using it. Last week thousands of Dean supporters met at various functions around the country, all summoned there by e-mail and via the Internet, creating a serious Dean buzz.