Doves & Eagles:
Smithfield NC Oct. 27 2007
Stop The War.
 Stop Torture.
Stop Rendition.

Photos and text by Chuck Fager

Something very remarkable happened in Smithfield North Carolina on Saturday October 27, 2007. Two sharply opposed forces in American society came face-to-face, eyeball-to-eyeball, nose to nose.                           >>>

    The confrontation teetered repeatedly on the edge of violence. But something quite different happened, something that few of those involved will soon forget.

Here are the players, and their plans for the day, followed by an account of the unfolding drama. First, on the left . . .

  . . . was North Carolina Stop Torture Now (NCSTN), who came to Smithfield to call for an end to the war in Iraq, and an end to the practice of US-government-sponsored torture. Smithfield is home to Aero Contractors Ltd., one of the key players in this grim business.

 NCSTN scheduled a walk through downtown Smithfield, followed by a rally at Smithfield's picturesque Town Commons park, on the bank of the Neuse River. From there, the protesters planned to go to Aero Contractors' facility itself, at the Johnston County Airport, and mount a solemn procession to the gates of Aero, where they would hang photos of torture victims on the fence, in a memorial to their suffering and a call for the end of this unjust and outrageous practice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

On the other side was the local chapter of Gathering of Eagles (GOE), a militantly pro-war group, mainly made up of Vietnam era veterans and their family members. GOE has chapters in several states, and its website showcases numerous reports of "victories" over peace vigilers and protestors in various cities, large and small. The North Carolina chapter's page gives considerable space to claims of "victory" over a small weekly peace vigil in Washington NC in the summer of 2007, bragging of having driven the mainly middle-aged female peace protesters away.

 NCSTN had been planning their anti-war & anti-torture protest for Smithfield since late June of 2007. And since August, GOE had been plotting to disrupt and if possible drown out their efforts, by a massing of forces, and a multi-pronged assault.

This sketch of the GOE's plans for Smithfield is not based on inference. As this writer was unloading the car to help with the rally setup, another vehicle slid to a stop behind us. The window rolled down, and one of the GOE folks peered out, asked us how many people we were expecting, then declared that the GOE was coming out in force, intending to shut us down.



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