NC's role in CIA torture program

From an email from NC Commission of Inquiry on Torture:

The North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture 

October 2018

"Citizens’ report shines light on NC role in CIA torture program"

In a powerful column in North Carolina’s News & Observer newspaper, editor Ned Barnett praises the “persistent and uncompromising” North Carolina citizen effort to bring transparency to the CIA torture program. “When the government wouldn’t take action to address its own offenses,” Barnett writes, “these citizens formed their own 10-member investigative panel, the North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture.”

The release of the Commission’s ground-breaking report, Torture Flights: North Carolina’s Role in the CIA Rendition and Torture Program, analyzes the ways in which North Carolina was used as a launching pad for torture. It describes the complicity of public officials and the role of private contractors, most notably Aero Contractors, headquartered at the Johnston County Airport.

Under the heading “Grim Account,” Barnett quotes from the report:  “Aero transported at least 49 individuals, who were forcibly seized without any due process, in a manner that itself amounted to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Preparation for ‘rendition’ involved physical and sometimes sexual assault, drugging, and sensory deprivation. Rendition flights were experiences of prolonged pain, dread, and terror.”

Barnett says Johnston County District Attorney Susan Doyle should investigate whether Aero’s activities violated state law.  He calls on State Attorney General Josh Stein and Governor Roy Cooper to “explore the need for a state investigation.” And he criticizes Senator Burr's failure to release the full Senate Intelligence “torture report” as "contrary to what best serves the nation.”