Meeting Wednesday Sep 28th with Kevin Cohen

Rotary Club of Lake Murray
Minutes to meeting on 9/28/05
Lyn Richards, reporter
The meeting was opened with prayer led by John Adair. Harvey Hoots introduced visitors, which included four members of the Dutch Fork High School Interact Club, brought by Kelley Payne. Michael Sequin provided us with an update on the Irmo Okra Strut, which he said went really well, with ample volunteers. Blount Shepard will host the Adopt-A-Highway cleanup date this Saturday with breakfast at his office from 8 to 9, and then clean-up to follow. Harold Crawford gave us an update on the dictionary project. Dr. Lynn Campbell gave us our Rotary magazine quiz, which I’d say we only got about a C+ on. Judy Johnson gave us our tickets to sell for the Art Auction.
Nathan Ballentine introduced our guest speaker, Kevin Cohen of WVOC here in Columbia.
Kevin spoke with us regarding his trip to Guantanamo Bay. Kevin is open of his support of President Bush and the current policy regarding the war in Iraq. Kevin’s belief is that history will vindicate the Iraq war. One of Kevin’s concerns was what he had been hearing in the media about the treatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay, and through the help of Senator Lindsay Graham’s office and Joe Wilson’s office, he was secreted away on a trip to ascertain the facts for himself.
Kevin was impressed with the beauty of Cuba and is excited about economic opportunities that will present themselves at the end of Castro’s regime.
First Kevin visited camp X Ray, where detainees used to be kept. He stated that the conditions there were abysmal, but the place is now deserted. He says this is the camp that the media shows pictures of when featuring Guantanamo Bay in news items.
At the actual detention center, he saw the prisoners and was actually able to interview guards and administrative personnel. There are three levels of detainees, designated by color; orange being the color of the most uncooperative detainees. He admitted that some abuse had occurred, but reminded us of the unimaginable provocation that our soldiers receive from the detainees. While Kevin was aware that his visit was anticipated and prepared for, he felt that he could get a fair picture of conditions, which were tolerable. Each Muslim has their own copy of a Q’uran, a prayer mat, and arrows pointing in the direction of Mecca in order to help them pray. He stated that the reason cooperative detainees are not released is due to the stigma that attaches to both being a detainee and having cooperated. It is also due to the possibility that these prisoners will revert to subversive activities.
Kevin was very grateful to Senator Graham and House Representative Joe Wilson for the opportunity to witness news events first hand.