As Xpress noted in this week’s Buzzworm news briefs, a North Carolina-based air-transport company, Aero Contractors, is under scrutiny for its alleged role in the CIA’s so-called “torture flights,” wherein terrorist suspects are kidnapped and secretly shuttled off to be interrogated in other countries. On Jan. 18, 22 state legislators wrote N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper asking that he direct the SBI to investigate Aero for “alleged involvement in a conspiracy to support the kidnap and torture of individuals.”
Now the Franklin County Republican Party is charging that signing on to that letter – as did Buncombe County Rep. Susan Fisher – was “tantamount to treason.” On its website, the Franklin GOP has posted its own letter, which urges constituents to condemn the 22 legislators and work to get them out of office. Those legislators seeking an investigation of Aero “are more concerned about terrorists than American citizens’ lives,” the site charges.
Expect more local debate about the matter this week, when the ACLU is hosting an Asheville forum on the CIA program and Aero’s purported role. The free event will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 8, in the Grotto at UNCA’s Highsmith Student Union.
– Jon Elliston, news editor
