The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 21, 2005, Image 1
The University of South Carolina Monday, November21, 2005 VoL 99, No. 44 • Since 1908
Students take part in protest
of U.S. military school in Ga.
Army denies allegations that former School of the Americas trains Hispanic soldiers to torture
Justin Chapura
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Rather than worry about the
Carolina-Clemson rivalry over
the weekend, three S.C. Honors
College students traveled to
southern Georgia to protest a
controversial center that some
claim trains Latin American
soldiers in torture.
USC students Drew
I Cutright, Mica Jenkins and
Mary Lohman set out Saturday
to attend an annual rally at Fort
Benning in Columbus, Ga.
The rally called for closing the
Western Hemisphere Institute
for Security Cooperation,
formerly known at the School of
the Americas, a Spanish
language department that trains
and educates Latin American
military personnel in
“democratic values, respect for
human rights, and knowledge
and understanding of United
States customs and traditions,”
according to the Institutes Web
site. >
Yet the rally’s organizer, the
School of the Americas Watch,
allege that much more goes on
inside the school’s walls.
The rally coincides with the
anniversary of the murder of six
Jesuit priests, their housekeeper
and her daughter at the
University of Central America in
El Salvador. A UN Commission
in 1993 cited 27 Latin American
soldiers as responsible for the
murders, 19 of which were
graduates of the Institute.
SOA Watch alleges that many
human rights violations and
murders were conducted by
SOA graduates in their Latin
American home countries and
that the school trains personnel
in torture. The Army denies that
it trains soldiers in anything that
violates human rights standards.
It was in this context that
Jenkins, Lohman and Cutright
drove down and camped out
with college students and
activists from across the
PROTEST • l
Special to THE GAMECOCK
Protesters marched from the former School of the America’s
entrance following a symbolic funeral procession Sunday.
Special to THE GAMECOCK
Second-year chemistry student Charles McDonald poses during his first tour in the Middle East. The Marine
expects to return to Iraq sometime in the next few months.
Back to Iraq
i
USC student readies for second tour in Middle East
Jess Davis
STAFF WRITER
A USC student will return to
Iraq sometime in the next
few months, this time
facing a completely different situation
than when he first fought overseas.
. Charles McDonald, a second-year
chemistry student, has been in the
U.S. Marine Forces Reserve for about
the past year, taking time off to go to
school after spending nine months in
Kuwait and Iraq. There, he saw the
initial U.S. intervention in Iraq,
which caused the fall of Saddam
Husseins regime. When he returns in
December or January, he will see the
continuing efforts of U.S. forces to
calm insurgents and try to create
stability for a newly democratic Iraq.
McDonald joined the Marines in
May 2003, after completing his first
year of college at USC Sumter. He
joined because he felt compelled to
serve, he said, and his experiences in
Iraq have only solidified that
compulsion.
“It’s not about me anymore,”
M I
McDonald said. “I’m trying to help
other people. I live my life to serve
others.”
Since leaving Iraq, McDonald has
had several encounters with people
who he says make the horrors of
fighting a war worthwhile. One
woman he met in Ireland said simply,
“Thank you for all that you’ve done
for us.”
“That touched me,” McDonald
said. Another moment that became
fixed in his mind happened one day
soon after he returned to civilian life,
as he shopped for Christmas presents
at a mall. He was talking to “Santa
Claus” about his recent experiences,
and Santa told a child standing
nearby that he was standing next to a
war veteran. The child’s mother
overheard him and explained further.
“You know the bad people that
destroyed the towers? He’s the one
who went over there and fought for
us,” the mother said. McDonald said
the small boy turned to him and said
“thank you.”
“That’s what touched me the most
out of all my experiences in my whole
life,” McDonald said. And it’s
moments like those that have
prompted him to return to a soldier’s
life, as well as feeling a sense of
obligation to his fellow soldiers.
McDonald said that though he has
many loved ones, because he doesn’t
have a wife or children, he has fewer
responsibilities to worry about than
other soldiers in the reserves.
The return to college life has also
been a difficult transition for
McDonald, who says he is still in “an
active-duty mindset” and doesn’t
think it will be hard to readjust to life
as a Marine. He said he “gets
paranoid easily” and doesn’t like
crowded areas, effects stemming from
the many bombings of the areas of
Iraq where he fought.
McDonald, a member of Alpha
Phi Alpha fraternity, GAMMA and
IHcDOilALD • 2
■
Drawing on experience,
Ariail notches accolades
Local editorial cartoonist
talks about industry,
early days at The Gamecock
Jason dlyers
FOR THE GAMECOCK
When Robert Ariail was at USC in the
1980s, he started drawing cartoons for
The Gamecock while he tried to figure
out how to get out of going to classes.
Now as cartoonist for The State for the
past 21 years, Ariaii's favorite cartOon that
he remembers from his days at The
Gamecock is the one he won a national
award for.
“It had something to do with inflation
with President Carter on a runaway roller
coaster,” Ariail said.
While at The Gamecock, Ariail won
several awards for his cartoons, including
the Mark of Excellence given by the
Society of Professional Journalists. After
winning these awards, Ariail knew he had
found a career.
Now, when he looks back on his
cartoons from The Gamecock, Ariail can’t
believe how much his style has changed.
“My cartoons were crudely rendered
back then, and going back and looking at
them kind of makes me cringe,” Ariail
said.
But the experience gained at The
Gamecock is invaluable, he said.
“Working for The Gamecock was very
similar to working here, except we only
published three times a week and I was
juggling school work to boot.” Ariail said.
After graduation, Ariail chose to stay in
Columbia and apply at The State.
“While I was in school, I freelanced for
The (Columbia) Record doing editorial
cartoons but also staff artwork and that
sort of thing,” Ariail said. “So I already
had my foot halfway in the door because
of that. I guess the timing was right, and
(The State) decided to take a chance and
hired me. I was hired to be the first full
time cartoonist, and I’ve been here ever
since.”
Ariail has been successful in his 21
years at The State. He has won awards for
his artwork, including The National
Headliner Award in 1990, the National
Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma
Delta Chi Award in 1992 and Green Eye
Shade Awards in 1991, 1997, 2001 and
2004, the Overseas Press Club’s Thomas
Nast award in 1997 and was a finalist for
the Pulitzer Prize in 1995 and 2000.
Although showered with awards, Ariail
still has expel ienced censorship — or
what he calls “editing” — as well as
negative reactions to his work.
“The very first cartoon I ever did was
in high school, and it was canned by our
principal because it was about him and he
didn’t like it,” Ariail said. “So I learned
early on that negative cartoons about
your publisher are not a good idea.”
At The State, however, his experience
and a good working relationship with his
editors has virtually eliminated any threat
of censorship.
Years ago when I hrst started 1 would
go home thinking I would have a cartoon
in the paper the next day, and they’d yank
it before it went to press,” Ariail said.
“They didn’t want to argue with me
about it. Now with Brad Warthen as
editor, he understands the role of the
cartoonist. Brad wants to let me do my
thing and I know there are certain limits
but I’ve been doing it long enough that I
know where the line is, and the line is
always moving and you don’t want to
cross it.”
One cartoon in particular started a
limited worldwide e-mail and phone
campaign against him.
“I did a cartoon in early August 2001
when one of the female pages at the State
House was being encouraged to show
RRimi • 2
INSIDE
Viewpoints
Brandt Boidy shares his disappoint
ment with recent race relations on
campus; Paige Martineau expresses
her frustration with the advisement
process.
4
The Mix
Gaming come full circle
Wireless is the theme with the release
of Microsoft’s next-generation console,
Xbox 360, due out Tuesday.
5
Sports
Holy Toledo
USC’s men’s basketball team moved to
2-0 after defeating Toledo at the
Colonial Center on Sunday.
< 10
November pain
Juan Bias!THE GAMECOCK
Freshman running back Mike Davis
walks off the field after USC's 13-9
loss to Clemson on Saturday.
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