Stop Torture Or (be) Prosecuted

It took awhile, but the Aero Eight are no longer alone in their quest to bring NC's torture ties to light and to an end.  The Fayetteville Observer is now officially on board.  Bolstering NC Stop Torture's campaign for an investigation of Aero Contractors because of its involvement in the Khaled El-Masri rendition.

But North Carolina’s Attorney General’s office has said it is unable to ask the SBI to investigate because North Carolina doesn’t have a torture statute that would make the crimes illegal.

That should change, and it very well could if lawmakers pass proposed legislation to ban torture in North Carolina. This week, a group of legislators submitted a bill to create statutory offenses of 'torture' and 'enforced disappearance.'"

You can read the bill here.  The only weakness I can see is that it does nothing for poor Mr. El-Masri, a German citizen kidnapped and tortured by the US government based on its own mistaken suspicions.  Still, better late to the grand jury than continuing to allow such missions to originate in our great state. 

Wrapping up its endorsement of the measure, the Observer makes its point:

By denouncing torture and attaching penalties to the crime, North Carolina is buffering federal laws that are not always being enforced. And most important, by taking a stand against interrogation methods that are never acceptable, the state is decreasing the likelihood that captured American soldiers will face them."

I would add that leading the way on the matter of human rights can only be a good thing.  A good thing that our state obviously needs to keep such evil-doers out of our midst.