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North Carolina Stop Torture Now!

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On May 31, 2005, evidence of Aero Contractors' role as Torture Taxis became world news with the New York Times story on Aero Contractors Ltd., civilian aviation companies operating effectively as mercenaries, in that they are a private company facilitating military and Central Intelligence Agency operations. In response to the operations transportation operating out of their local airfield, North Carolina volunteers organized a group to protest and inform the public and lawmakers.[1]

The group worked to pass a bill in North Carolina to prohibit torture flights, but a limp response by the legislature led to the legislation being shelved. Equally tepid was the press coverage given to their efforts, with a notable exception. Appropriately, it was Democracy Now! that broadcast the story of one of their many demonstrations, an attempt to make a citizens' arrest of [2]

"North Carolina Activists Target Aero Contractors Over Rendition Flights"
Here in this country, members of the group North Carolina Stop Torture Now are heading to the offices of Aero Contractors today to make a citizens arrest of three executives. Aero Contractors has been closely connected to the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program and was involved in the kidnapping and torture of German citizen Khaled El-Masri. In January, German prosecutors issued arrest warrants for at least three employees of Aero Contractors involved in the El-Masri case.


The name Torture Taxi came from the book of the same name by A.C. Thompson and Trevor Paglen, documenting the CIA's extraordinary rendition program. (2006) Torture Taxi, Melville House Publishing.


Aero Contractors Ltd., a private charter company based in Smithfield, North Carolina, is said to provide discreet air transport services for the Central Intelligence Agency.

The company was founded in 1979 by the late Jim Rhyne, a former pilot with Air America. The company has 26 planes and 79 employees and operates from the tiny Johnston County Airport.

On May 31, 2005, the New York Times reported that the company was heavily involved in extraordinary rendition, the transport of terrorism suspects to countries where they can be interrogated to extract information. An Aero Contractors plane was used in the transport of Khalid El-Masri, a German citizen who was pulled from a bus on the Serbia-Macedonia border and held for three weeks. He was drugged and beaten before being flown to Afghanistan on a Boeing Business Jet operated by Aero Contractors. El-Masri was released after five months.[3]

Aero Corporations allegedly operates under several different shell companies, including Stevens Express Leasing, Inc., Premier Executive Transport Services, Aviation Specialties, Inc., and Devon Holding and Leasing, Inc. [4]

A book published in September 2006, Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA Rendition Flights [5] includes many details about Aero Contractors' involvement in extraordinary rendition.

Pilots alleged to work for Aero Contractors

Links to Air America

There are numerous small links between Aero and Air America. The founder of Aero, Jim Rhyne, was chief pilot for Air America in the 1970s. Jim Rhyne died in early 2000 and there is little written about who is now in charge of operations.

The road on which Aero’s hangar is located is called Charlie Day Memorial Highway. Charlie Day was a mechanic for Air America [10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Stop Torture Now Extraordinary rendition requires extraordinary activism.
  2. ↑ Headlines - Democracy Now!
  3. ↑ C.I.A. Expanding Terror Battle Under Guise of Charter Flights
  4. ↑ European Parliament Working Document No 4 on the flights operated by the CIA in Europe
  5. ↑ Trevor Paglen and AC Thompson, Publisher: Melville House (October 1, 2006), English, ISBN 1933633093 and ISBN 978-1933633091
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Christina Stefanescu, "Wie enttarnt man einen CIA-Kidnapper? (How does one unmask a CIA kidnapper?)" (PDF), Zusammenfassungen zur nr-Jahreskonferenz 2007 (Summaries to the NR yearly conference 2007), page 22, netzwerkrecherche.de, 2007.
  7. ↑ James Kovalesky (alias James Richard Fairing), SourceWatch, July 27, 2007.
  8. ↑ Eric Robert Hume (alias Eric Matthew Fain), SourceWatch, July 27, 2007.
  9. ↑ Harry Kirk Elarbee (alias Kirk James Bird), SourceWatch, July 26, 2007.
  10. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/31/national/31planes.html?_r=2&oref=slogin New York Times article

External links

Portions of this article were taken from "Aero Contractors Ltd.", at SourceWatch, a wikiproject of the Center for Media & Democracy which is licensed under the GFDL. The list of original authors and the article's edit history can be viewed here.

Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Flights is a 2006 book by A.C. Thompson and Trevor Paglen documenting the CIA's extraordinary rendition program.[1]

The authors note the discovery of the program's means of transportation, rendition aircraft, by aviation enthusiasts, who spotted discrepancies in the flights of four aircraft, and correlations between their unusual flight patterns and the list of sites reputed to be the destination for ghost detainees.[2]

See also

Citations

  1. ↑ Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Flights, Melville House Publishing.
  2. ↑ Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Flights. Democracy Now!.

External links

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