By ANDY SILVER
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In one of his first acts as president, Barack Obama signed three executive orders on Jan. 22 that will close the Guantanamo detention center, close overseas CIA prisons and prohibit torture, often euphemistically referred to as “enhanced interrogation.” However, the president has not yet ruled out extraordinary rendition, the CIA’s practice of kidnapping suspects anywhere in the world and flying them to countries such as Morocco and Afghanistan for interrogation under torture.
In recent years, Johnston County Airport has gained worldwide notoriety. One of the airport’s tenants, Aero Contractors, was identified in The New York Times, The Washington Post and elsewhere as a CIA front whose pilots and aircraft carry out rendition flights. Several of the pilots have been indicted in Germany for their alleged roles in the kidnapping, drugging and transport of German citizen Khaled El-Masri, who was tortured for months in a secret prison in Afghanistan before being released without charges.
“Planespotters” observe that planes linked to renditions still fly regularly from Johnston County. In November, members of North Carolina Stop Torture Now (NCSTN) from Johnston and several other counties pleaded with the Johnston County Airport Authority to adopt a pledge halting further use of the airport to help whisk people away to their torture chambers. The authority referred the issue to County Attorney Mark Payne. In a Jan. 29 memo, Payne stated that alleged illegal activities might permit limitation of airport privileges.
As the Bush administration’s record of kidnapping and torture comes under greater scrutiny in this country and abroad, with prosecutions and lawsuits distinct possibilities, NCSTN urges the Johnston County Board of Commissioners to ensure early compliance with the new administration’s prohibition of torture by requiring the airport authority to adopt the pledge.
Already, the Swedish government has acknowledged and provided compensation for its role in handing over two asylum-seekers to the CIA in 2001. The two men, Ahmed Agiza and Muhammad al-Zery, were transported by Aero Contractors for detention and torture in Egypt. Further investigations that will likely implicate Aero are underway in Spain and other European countries.
Christina Cowger, spokesperson for our group, told the commissioners on Feb. 2 that Aero Contractors has given the state of North Carolina a black eye before the entire world. She described the case of Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian resident of the United Kingdom. Mohamed was detained in Pakistan in 2002 and transported by Aero to Morocco, where he was tortured appallingly over 18 months, including periodic cutting of his penis with a razor blade. He then was flown by Aero to a CIA black site, known as “the Dark Prison,” in Afghanistan, where he was kept chained to a stone floor in cold temperature, wearing only light clothing, in complete darkness 23 hours a day. In September 2004, he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay, where he remains to this day without criminal charges.
Many citizens have wondered over the past eight years how this country could have strayed so far from the ideals of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Both these men abhorred mistreatment of prisoners, despite leading long, bloody wars. The systematic use of torture, and even the occasional public enthusiasm for it, have undermined our own and international confidence in the moral compass of this country. As we emerge from eight years of paranoia and disrespect for the law, we approach a time of national reckoning, in which Johnston County could become a focal point.
County commissioners should do the right thing now and ensure that the Obama policies against torture are enforced locally. The commissioners should direct the airport authority to adopt a “no-torture-taxi” stance and call on law enforcement agencies to investigate whether Aero conspired to break laws against kidnapping, disappearance and torture.
Andy Silver is a member of North Carolina Stop Torture Now.
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