Erik Wilson, vice chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus of North Carolina will speak at the regular meeting of the WakeLP Feb. 20. Erik will talk to us about the RLC in general as well as what particular objectives they have in North Carolina and Wake County which may be of mutual interest which we could conceivably cooperate on.

Meeting starts at 7 p.m. and the RLC presentation will begin at 7:30 to give everyone time to find a seat and order food and drinks.

North Carolina Stop Torture Now is a grassroots coalition of individuals and faith, human rights, peace, veteran, and student groups from across the state dedicated to stopping torture everywhere,. Since 2005, they have worked to expose and end North Carolina’s central role in the ongoing U.S. torture program.

Their special focus has been on the “torture taxis” of Aero Contractors, Ltd. of Smithfield. Both are nominally private companies linked to the operation of aircraft in clandestine support of the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program. Extraordinary rendition is a phrase that disguises the kidnap, detention and torture of individuals alleged to be enemies of the United States, including those guilty of nothing other than being misidentified.

Jess Porta of the NC Commission of Inquiry on Torture speaks to the Wake LP meeting July 9.

North Carolina is “First in Flight,” but sadly it is also first in torture flights. This Thursday, July 9, representatives from North Carolina Stop Torture Now and the North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture will discuss what we can and should do about the possible complicity of our state government in facilitating “torture taxis.” 

Jess Porta of North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture and Joan Walsh of North Carolina Stop Torture Now will explain the process of “extraordinary rendition,” by which persons arrested extra-judicially “arrested” in one country are allegedly flown to “black sites” in other countries where they could be tortured with impunity.