Oct 28 Smithfield Herald: Town Faces Moral Choice

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

Oct. 28, 2006 - Oct 27 Smithfield Herald: Town May Be Hosting Torture Flights
Citizens of the sleepy little town of Smithfield North Carolina now face a tough choice:

Will they demand an investigation into the use of the Smithfield airport to fly "prisoners" out of the country to be tortured - or will they just keep their eyes down and pretend they "know nothing"?

The issue of torture flights out of Smithfield NC has finally reached the pages of the "Smithfield Herald".

Smithfield's dirty secret is out now, and the citizens there have to decide, as people have in other troubled times - will they blindly support torture if ordered by the leader of their country, and will they support the use of their home town to enable torture of other human beings.

Or will they pretend that they don't know, or expect someone else to take a stand for them?
Now that they know about it, what will they do?
What will the local churches say?


12 lawmakers not of the Smithfield area have called for an investigation, at the behest of the Stop Torture NC group.

Lawmakers call for probe

Oct 27, 2006 Smithfield Herald.

Twelve members of the N.C. House of Representatives have asked the State Bureau of Investigation to probe Smithfield-based Aero Contractors.

In a letter to SBI Director Robin Pendergraft, the 12 lawmakers, none of them from Johnston County, claim that Aero, under the direction of the CIA, "has flown persons detained in various countries, including the United States, to other countries." "There,” the letter continued, "the suspects were held incommunicado and tortured, using methods that would not have been legal in the United States...."

"But it seems pretty clear that Aero has been involved with the CIA rendition program," Luebke continued. "And if that's the case, then Aero would appear to be in violation of the North Carolina conspiracy statute. That would be something for the Attorney General's Office and the SBI to look into."

Co-sponsoring the letter were Reps. Linda Coleman, Deborah Ross and Jennifer Weiss of Wake County; Alma Adams and Earl Jones of Guilford County; Larry Hall of Durham County; Martha Alexander of Mecklenburg County; Melanie Goodwin of Richmond County; Verla Insko of Orange County; William Wainwright of Craven County; and Winkie Wilkins of Person County....
...

Weiss said she and the other House members became involved after anti-torture group Stop Torture Now asked for their help. "I feel that as a representative, it's my obligation to act when there are grave concerns," she said. "Although the Johnston County Airport and Global TransPark are not within my district, they do receive state funds." (Aero also flies out of Global TransPark in Kinston.)

..

Finally, someone in our government has the courage to help the US regain its moral compass.

But not Leo Daughtry, who is a state representative of the Johston County area.

Rep. Leo Daughtry of Smithfield, whose hometown houses Aero's headquarters, said this week he was unaware of his fellow lawmakers' appeal to the SBI. But had he known, the Smithfield lawyer said, he "would not have gotten involved because I don't have any reason to criticize the CIA or whoever it is that is behind such matters."

"I don't know what relevance the General Assembly has toward the CIA," Daughtry said. “The CIA is a federal agency, and the matter of renditions is a federal issue. I see the controversy sort of like the members of the General Assembly being critical of the war in Iraq. While we might be interested to read about it in the newspapers, there's nothing we can do about it."

"When members try to take action like this, it seems to me they are simply politicking," Daughtry said.

Wrong Representative Daughtry. Politicians tend to avoid making waves if they can. They know how easily people can be blinded by false patriotism to support such horrible things as torture. It takes guts to stand up to torture.

Politicians know, by studying the tragic history of the human race - that normally decent people have easily been persuaded to torture, maim, starve and or kill their own kind, when their leaders have ordered it. Going against those leaders has often been risky and unpopular.

http://www.triadblogs.com/StopNCTortureTaxis/3045/