• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
NC Council of Churches

NC Council of Churches

Strength in Unity, Peace through Justice

Get Involved Donate
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Members
    • Covenant Partners
    • Statements
    • Board
    • Careers
  • Voices
  • Our Priorities
    • Partners in Health & Wholeness
      • The PHW Collaborative
      • Focus Areas
    • Eco-Justice Connection
      • Faith
      • Advocacy
      • Energy
      • Environmental Justice
      • Food
      • Global
      • Health
      • Resiliency and Restoration
    • Racial Justice
      • Confederate Monument Removal
      • Reparations to Restoration
    • Criminal Justice Reform
      • Cash Bail Reform
      • Death Penalty Abolition
    • Gun Violence Prevention
    • Workers’ Rights
      • Paid Sick Leave / Paid Family Leave
      • Raising Wages
    • Overdose Response
    • Legislative Advocacy
    • Healthcare Justice
    • Farmworkers
    • Public Education
  • In the News
    • NCCC in the News
    • Press Releases
  • Events
  • Resources

Search NC Council of Churches

Vetting the Vote: North Carolina’s Involvement in Torture

October 18, 2018 by Para Drake, NC No Torture Project Coordinator

Raleigh Report masthead

Every seat in the North Carolina General Assembly is being challenged in the upcoming election. Every person qualified to vote has a responsibility to show up at the polls on Nov. 6 cast a ballot during the early voting period, or fill out an absentee ballot.

One issue that should be addressed by our elected officials is our state’s role in the CIA Rendition, Detention, and Interrogation program between 2002 and 2004. Forty-eight men and one woman were ferried from one torture site to another on aircraft based at public airports in Smithfield and Kinston.

The North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture, in two days of hearings in November 2017, exposed the details related to these flights. According to the final report, released September 27, 2018,

“Within weeks of the RDI program’s authorization, Aero Contractors, Ltd. (Aero), based in Smithfield, NC, began operating the first of two aircraft for extraordinary, or violent and secret, renditions. Between September 2001 and March 2004, Aero-operated aircraft – a Gulfstream V turbojet and Boeing 737 business jet – were used in more than 80% of identified RDI renditions. Over the full length of the program, Aero transported 34 of the known 119 CIA prisoners, plus at least 15 of those sent by the CIA to foreign custody, on 69 identified rendition circuits. These flights, using North Carolina’s public infrastructure and flown by its citizens, implicate North Carolina directly in abduction, forced disappearance, and torture.”

The documented evidence points to the necessity of confronting these crimes. Even though county and state officials have been repeatedly asked to open a government inquiry into these activities, no one has yet responded.

We may think of this harm as a federal responsibility. Yes. We may think it belongs to Johnston County, which hosts Aero Contractors at its airport and directly benefits from the company’s activities. Yes. But we must not ignore the responsibility of every person in North Carolina.

We are called to be God’s people and to stand against injustice. As people of faith, we cannot accept the use of our tax dollars to accomplish illegal and immoral actions. As people of faith, we cannot endorse violence against others who also belong to God.

We need to elect officials who will seek the truth about North Carolina’s role in the CIA Rendition, Detention, and Interrogation program. We need to elect officials who will work for reconciliation on behalf of those who have been harmed. Ask the candidates who are seeking your support if they will move our state toward this place of truth-telling that leads to redressing the harm we have caused.

Filed Under: Blog, Homepage Featured, Raleigh Report Tagged With: Peace, vettingthevote

About Para Drake, NC No Torture Project Coordinator

Para Drake has served churches in the NC Conference of the United Methodist Church. Ordained elder in 1999, she has served as the Convener of Clergy Women, Chairperson of the Peru Covenant Task Force, Equitable Compensation Commission, and currently serves on the Conference Communications and Creation Care Committees. Her interest in this project comes out of her experiences in mission, recognizing the intrinsic value of human life in God’s eyes. She hopes to build upon the work of longtime advocates Allyson Caison, Christina Cowger, and Catherine Read who have laid a statewide foundation for connecting the people of NC to the Commission’s hearings and the final report, to be released September 27, 2018.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Footer

Contact

NC Council of Churches
27 Horne St.
Raleigh, NC 27607
(919) 828-6501
info@ncchurches.org

Subscribe

Click here to subscribe to newsletters and blog updates.
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2023 NC Council of Churches · All Rights Reserved · Website by Tomatillo Design · Hosted by WP Engine