Stop the War! Stop Torture! Stop Rendition! Action in Smithfield, North Carolina
BY MICHAEL BERG

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/16842591@N05/

Stop the War! Stop Torture! Stop Rendition! This was the message of around 160
activists, including five Columbia residents, in Smithfield, North Carolina, where they marched held a vigil on Saturday, October 27, 2007.

Smithfield based Aero-Contractors flies “extraordinary rendition” flights for the CIA in and out of the nearby Johnson County  Airport every week.  This means that the company, under orders of Bush Administration officials, flies kidnapped suspects to secret detention centers to countries such as Egypt, Morocco and Syria. The purpose is to hold them incommunicado - - beyond the reach of families, attorneys, and courts - - and to interrogate them under torture. For such actions against German citizen Khaled El-Masri, the Republic of Germany recently issued arrest warrants for three Aero Contractor pilots.

The action, organized by North Carolina Stop Torture Now included a march through
downtown Smithfield, music, speeches and information sharing. The marchers then headed to the gates of Johnson County Airport and placed on the gates photos of those tortured after extraordinary rendition.

For Hildy Lindsay of Columbia, her reason for coming was simple. “I love America,” she said, “but the current administration's retentions and torture makes me ashamed.

A group of around 25 aggressive pro-torture and pro-war advocates who calls  themselves A Gathering of Eagles unsuccessfully attempted to disrupt the peaceful action.  Their actions included the grabbing from North Carolina peace activist a picture of his grandfather who had been tortured in World War II, followed by one of the Eagles taunting the man.