WRAL.com: Raleigh, Durham, Fayetteville

Log in to WRAL.com with one click using your favorite social network:

Register with WRAL.com using your favorite social network:

8:23 a.m. • 5-20-13

68°F

Weather Forecast for Raleigh

Today: Thunderstorm.
- Hi: 76° F
Tue: Thunderstorm.
- Hi: 82° F
Wed: Partly Cloudy.
- Hi: 86° F

Other Locations

7 Day Forecast

Alert

Just In: Yahoo is buying online blogging forum Tumblr for $1.1 billion, and it will remain separately run, according to the Associated Press.

Posted: April 9, 2007

8 Arrested in 'Torture Flights' Protest

Site Search

Smithfield, N.C. — Eight people were arrested Monday morning while trying to deliver "citizens' arrest" warrants for three pilots at the Johnston County Airport, authorities said.

Various groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union claim Aero Contractors, an air carrier based at the airport, works for the CIA to provide so-called "torture flights" in which terrorism suspects are flown to secret locations without due process.

Twenty-two state lawmakers wrote to Attorney General Roy Cooper last month, asking that he order the State Bureau of Investigation to probe reports of illegal activity at the Johnston County Airport.

Aero Contractors has denied any involvement in the flights, and no one with the company came to the gates outside its hangars Monday to meet the protestors.

Eight of the protestors were charged with tresspassing, authorities said.

Get News Alerts to your Email & Cell Phone

109 Comments

WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

VIEW ALL 109 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments.

Latest Comments

ssi: By "we" do you mean the US? If so, how does the US declare war against its own citizens? Are you suggesting we round them up and put them into concentration camps? How do you "win" a war against a religion? If I thought that was possible, I'd be suggesting that we start bombing Christians immediately.

ninenine99
April 10, 2007 7:02 p.m.

me-in-raeford: "THE ACLU is just an obstacle in the path of those of us who respect the freedoms and rights given to us in this Constitutional Republic"

Actually, the ACLU in this case is attempting to ensure that one of those freedoms and rights is upheld: due process.

ssi: "You do not deal with someone you are at war with in civilian courts with court appointed attorneys."

I agree. But that's not the situation we're talking about. Some of the people detained/beaten were innocent. They are not terrorists, and we are not at war with them. They were mistaken for terrorists based on a name or other similarity. Due process would have ensured the CIA had the right people before they took them away and beat them. Nobody, including the ACLU, wants real terrorists to be granted special privileges or to be released; they're simply trying to prevent the unlawful detainment of innocent people like you and me.

yacs
April 10, 2007 3:25 p.m.

The ACLU is a Circle Sitting, Terrorist Symapthizing, Ego Patting, Liberal Pandering Joke!

If I am given a choice between who I want to "defend my rights and freedoms" trust me on this...I'M ALWAYS GOING TO CHOSE GEORGE W. BUSH or someone just like him...THE ACLU is just an obstacle in the path of those of us who respect the freedoms and rights given to us in this Constitutional Republic

me-in-raeford
April 10, 2007 12:37 p.m.

First of all we are at WAR with the Islamists. They want all of us, our country, and our way of life destroyed. You do not deal with someone you are at war with in civilian courts with court appointed attorneys. It's hard to believe that some people don't understand that.

ssi
April 10, 2007 12:03 p.m.

All 8 of these imbeciles are perfect candidates for the "Adopt a Terrorist" program. Let them live with these detainees for a month and see what they're really like.