NORTH CAROLINA
STOP TORTURE NOW

PO Box 50345
Raleigh, NC 27650
e-mail via:
contact AT ncstoptorturenow.net

(919) 834-4478
(evenings, or messages during business hours)

Aero Contractors, Ltd. is one of the private companies linked to the CIA’s practice of extraordinary rendition a phrase that disguises the kidnap, detention and torture of individuals alleged to be enemies of the United States, including those guilty of nothing other than being misidentified. Aero Contractors' headquarters is located at the Johnston County Airport near Smithfield, NC.

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Congressman Price sponsors Transparency and Accountability in Intelligence Contracting Act -- Is it enough?

May 6 - Congressman David Price's office shared news that he has co-sponsored
HR 5973, the Tranperarency and Accountability in Intelligence Contracting Act of 2008.

The act prohibits the use of private contractors in the conduct of intelligence operations where "an individual who is a detainee or prisoner in the custody or under the effective control of the United States Government, including ... (1) arrest; (2) interrogation; (3) detention; or (4) transportation or transfer."

While this legislation might be viewed as a positive development, it leaves important questions unanswered:

If the CIA owns and operates the aircraft used to transport captives to torture chambers, does that make it okay?

And, if Aero's pilots, indicted in Germany and Italy, and the architects of the extraordinary rendition policy, now subpoenaed by the House Judiciary, go unpunished for compromising our national security by creating new enemies, squandering intelligence resources on unreliable leads, and deceiving our allies, what will deter the next administration from similar crimes?

Please take a moment to visit our Action page and use the ACLU's terrific resource to submit questions to the House Judiciary Committee or download a sample appeal to your Congressional representative to support Congressman Watt's demand for a report on a long-promised FBI investigation of Aero Contractors.

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JOIN US at the next NCSTN Meeting
2-4 p.m., Sunday, May 18
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh
3313 Wade Avenue

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Peacemakers to be Honored
Allyson & Walt Caison will be honored
during a dinner gathering hosted by NC Peace Action,
beginning with a social hourat 6 p.m., Tuesday, May 20
at the NC State University Club
4200 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh
(Directions available at the link above)

Reserve your spot now.

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Report: "Waterboarding, Ghost Planes, and Guantánamo:
Inside America's Secret War,"
A Conference and Strategy Session

May 3 - More than 50 people gathered to listen to Moazzam Begg, former Bagram and Guantánamo detainee and co-author of Enemy Combatant; Tina Monshipour Foster, human rights attorney, executive director of International Justice Network; and Brad Garrett, consultant ABC News, private investigator, and retired officer with the Federal Bureau of Investigation offer advice on working to end U.S. sponsorship of torture.

The event was featured in a news item in Sunday's edition of the Raleigh News & Observer.

Video of the event is being posted as it is edited into manageable components at: www.ncstn.spaces.live.com and the first installment is below:

Near the end of his talk, Begg replied to a question about his plans moving forward. He plainly explained his commitment to continue reaching out to British and U.S. and global citizens to end torture, and noted that he draws considerable energy and hope from spreading his message via video or in personal presentations.

Begg, Garrett and Foster each emphasized the importance of reframing the struggle against torture in terms that fearful people can understand and support.

Begg noted that when the U.S. releases a journalist from Guantánamo, as it did just days earlier, the news saturates media outlets throughout the Islamic world and inspires outrage and militancy.

Likewise, Foster noted that the lawyers for detainees have only been successful when they appeal to the court of public opinion. The practice of swooping in and capturing non-combatants from their homes based on the say-so of bounty hunters only serves to create more enemies and makes us less safe.

"The military and intelligence community have a daunting job," Garrett said. "You can't make it worse by making people hate us."

During a post-lunch strategy session, another invited speaker, state Senator Ellie Kinnaird, suggested and NC Council of Churches staff member, Rev. Spencer Bradford, echoed the need to do significant outreach to faith-based communities.

During afternoon workshops participants explored:

How to make torture an election issue, featuring a discussion led by state Representative Paul Luebke and state Senator Ellie Kinnaird and Sarah Preston, Legislative Coordinator for the ACLU-NC.

Considered how Americans can best meet our responsibility to expose our program of disappearance and torture, during a session facilitated by Steven Edelstein, Esq.

Created components of a traveling, educational art installation exploring our nation's use of torture and how citizens must respond, facilitated by Roger Ehrlich, Joe McTaggart, and a corps of volunteers from the group: Public Assembly.

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Watt Spells Out a Request for a Report
on the FBI Investigation of:
"A-E-R-O Contractors"

April 23 - Congressman Mel Watt asked FBI Director Robert Mueller for an update on the investigation into Aero Contractors' support of the extaordinary rendition program during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee today.

Watt noted during questioning of Mueller that the North Carolina Attorney General had referred the matter to the FBI more than a year ago in reply to an inquiry from 22 state legislators. He also noted that three Aero employees had been indicted in Germany.

And, he wondered, when might Mr. Mueller provide the committee an update on an investigation of which Mueller claimed he was completely unaware.

Every Congressional representative in North Carolina should echo Rep. Watt's demand, and your letter of encouragement (template forthcoming) will go a long way towards ensuring each does.

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NC SENTENCING COMMISSION RECOMMENDS
"NC NO PLACE FOR TORTURE ACT"

In a March 7 report, the North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission specifically recognized what one commissioner called "the elephant in the room," -- US government sponsorship of torture and enforced disappearance supported by CIA-front companies operating in North Carolina.

The Commission convened a Torture Offense Subcommittee that met on January 18 and noted that "the people of North Carolina do not condone torture and that it is contrary to who they are as Americans."

The primary work of the subcommittee was to fit the proposed legislation HB 1682 into existing criminal code and ensure that statutory language provides judges with clear guidance.

Perhaps the most notable change recommended by the Commission was elevating the crime of kidnapping (codified at G.S. 14-39) to a first-degree offense when "the action was authorized, directed, compelled, or condoned by a government official," and to prohibit any affirmative defense that the kidnapping was committed at the behest of a government official.

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IRISH FOREIGN MINISTER DENIES PRISONERS FLOWN THROUGH SHANNON; NCSTN ALLIES ABROAD REMAIN VIGILANT

March 15 - Dermot Ahern, Irish Foreign Minister, rejected concerns raised by human rights group, Amnesty International, that United States security forces brought a tortured prisoner through Shannon Airport.

RTÉ news reports as well as coverage in the Irish Examiner quote Executive director of Amnesty’s Irish section Colm O’Gorman on the group's investigation into the arrest, detention and torture of Khaled al-Maqtari.

The investigation revealed that a plane used to transfer him between two of the prisons where he was kept during his 30-month ordeal refuelled at Shannon the day before he was transported.

Mr. al-Maqtari, a 31-year-old Saudi-born resident of Yemen, was arrested in the Iraqi city of Fallujah in January 2004 and was held for over a week in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison.

It was during his subsequent transfer to another prison in Afghanistan that the plane stopped at Shannon. Al-Maqtari was eventually released without charge late in 2006.

“We think there is a compelling case that he was on (the plane)” when it landed at Shannon in January 2004, the Irish Examinar reported O’Gorman said.

And, even if Mr. al Maqtari was not aboard, the fact that Shannon was used by an aircraft involved in the practice of extraordinary rendition defies international humanitarian law.

“What that [the investigation] specifically tells us is that Shannon Airport is at the very least being used as a staging post for these kind of missions by CIA-fronted operations and that Shannon in this case was used as a fuelling stop,” he said.

NCSTN continues to work with cooperators in Ireland, and especially the Irish Peace and Neutrality Alliance to monitor rendition-linked aircraft as they pass through Shannon.

Indeed, during the first two weeks of March, Irish allies greeted, rendition-linked aircraft: N478GS, N54PA, and N475LC as they arrived at Shannon, and even photographed a pilot as he monitored refueling.

Read more in these Independent Media dispatches:

TWO UNWELCOME RETURN VISITORS TO SHANNON

CIA TORTURE PLANE BACK AT SHANNON

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BUSH INSISTS TORTURE STAY IN U.S. TOOLKIT, NEXT REGIME IS SILENT -- OR WORSE -- SUPPORTIVE

March 8 - President Bush, today, announced his veto of a bill that would have limited the CIA to 19 interrogation techniques that are used by the military and spelled out in the Army Field Manual.

Bush said he vetoed the measure because it is important for the CIA to have a separate and classified interrogation program for suspected terrorists who possess critical information about possible plots against the United States.

Senator Jay Rockefeller, (D-W. Va.) chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he had heard nothing to suggest that the CIA, through enhanced interrogation methods, had obtained information to thwart a terrorist attack. "On the other hand, I do know that coercive interrogations can lead detainees to provide false information in order to make the interrogation stop.

"The leading Democratic presidential candidates did not vote on the bill, signaling their agreement with Bush's reluctance to deny "future presidents, from authorizing the CIA to conduct" interrogations using cruel and inhumane techniques.

Senator McCain earlier admitted his belief that the CIA needs wider latitude than the U.S. military is allowed and voted against the restrictive language added to the intelligence appropriations bill.According to some observers, Bush's stance directly jeopardizes U.S. troops and civilians.

"The president's refusal to sign this crucial legislation into law will undermine counterterrorism efforts globally and delay efforts to rebuild U.S. credibility on human rights," said Elisa Massimino, Washington director for Human Rights First.In the North Carolina Congressional delegation, every Democrat AND Walter Jones, (R-3rd District) voted to ban torture. Both US Senators endorsed torture as an interrogation technique.

There were not enough votes to override the veto.

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2007 Citizen Award

NCSTN is grateful to have been honored by the Independent Weekly for our work to sever North Carolina's ties to torture.

We invite you to join the struggle.

Visit our action page to download a petition in support of state legislation banning torture, send a donation, write your representatives.

(Image at left is courtesy of The Independent Weekly, photographer Jeremy M. Lange.)

 

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Please Visit our Interactive Web Log

For independent video, scrapbooks, recent news headlines and an opportunity to comment on NCSTN activities, please visit: http://ncstn.spaces.live.com/

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Please report broken links or other concerns.
updated 11 May 2008, JMcI