posted May 12, 2005 12:54 PM              

AP
"The war is the real crime here," Pablo Paredes had said, but prosecutors blocked his plan to put the war on trial in his court martial.

Possible Penalties:
· One year in jail
· Forfeiture of pay
· Rank reduction
· Bad-conduct discharge

Source: AP
More Military Coverage:
· New Hearing in Desertion Case
· Recruiters to Be Counseled

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SAN DIEGO (May 12) - A Navy sailor turned anti-war activist was convicted of missing his ship's movement when he refused to board the USS Bonhomme Richard as it deployed to the Persian Gulf in December.

A military judge deliberated about 40 minutes before finding Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes guilty of the count. Lt. Cmdr. Bob Klant dismissed a second count of unauthorized absence, ruling the charge was duplicative.

Paredes stood at attention as the judge read the verdict, following Wednesday's court-martial proceeding. The trial then shifted into the sentencing phase.

Paredes, a 23-year-old Puerto Rican from the New York City borough of the Bronx, could receive a year in jail, a forfeiture of pay, reduction in rank and a bad-conduct discharge.

Paredes had waved his right to have his trial heard by a military jury.

The prosecution closed its case by saying it had proven that the weapons control technician failed to board the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard on Dec. 6 - an act that was recorded by news crews at Naval Station San Diego, the scene of Wednesday's court-martial.

Lt. Christopher Castleman testified that he met Paredes at the Navy pier and warned him that if he failed to board the ship he could face criminal charges.

Defense attorney Jeremy Warren countered that Castleman also told Paredes that if he didn't board the ship he was "free to go, leaving the sailor with no idea what to do next."

Defense attorneys said Paredes had expected to be detained at the pier. Witnesses testified Wednesday that Navy officials initially planned to do so, but ultimately decided not to after consulting with Navy public affairs officials.

The Bonhomme Richard and two other ships carried about 3,000 Iraq-bound Marines when it set off on a six-month deployment to the Pacific and Indian oceans.

While his shipmates bid farewell to loved ones, Paredes sat pierside and told reporters he did not want to be part of a war he considers illegal and immoral. He said his military training taught him to avoid what he views as a war crime.

"The war is the real crime here, and that's what I want to get across," Paredes said. Navy prosecutors, however, blocked Paredes' plans to put the war on trial during the court-martial.

Warren said Paredes passed up deals that would have minimized his punishment in exchange for a guilty plea.

"He's not backing down from what he did or why he did it," Warren said.

A Navy officer reviewing Paredes' request for conscientious objector status has recommended that it be denied.

Paredes says he was a different person when he joined the Navy in 2000, looking for a job and a way to get a college education. The Navy sent him to Yokosuka, Japan, and once there, he says he had something of an awakening.

He began reading works by writers like Noam Chomsky, the MIT linguistics professor and political activist. He joined political discussions with like-minded friends who criticized the Bush administration. Japan's strong moral code impressed him as well, and when he left the country last year, Paredes says he had a huge internal conflict.

"I was ashamed to wear the uniform," he said in a recent interview.

Paredes' case attracted attention from all political stripes. Retired Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, a Fox News commentator who served in the Reagan White House, labeled Paredes a coward. Chomsky and Ron Kovic, the disabled Vietnam and author of "Born on the Fourth of July," said they admire Paredes for his courage.

On Wednesday, the courtroom was packed with reporters and anti-war activists. Paredes' supporters included Fernando Suarez del Solar of Escondido and Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, who both have spoken out against the war since their sons were killed in Iraq.

In the days before the court-martial, Paredes seemed unfazed by the prospect of a conviction following the military equivalent of a civilian misdemeanor trial.

posted May 12, 2005 01:34 PM            

Pablo,

I hope you don’t mind if I dispense with the military BS and address you informally. After all, you just took off your uniform and refused to go on deployment, so I doubt that military courtesy would make much of an impression on you.

You’ve just made a very critical decision, possibly the most important one of your young life. You decided to abandon a commitment that you made four and a half years ago by refusing to go on a six-month deployment to the Arabian Gulf on the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard. In doing so, you claim that you’re taking a stand against a war you believe to be unjustified. I’m sure that making such a statement makes you feel like a man.

OK then, let’s talk – man to man.

In the big scheme of things, your action will have no impact on the war. The Bonhomme Richard sailed out of San Diego on Monday, along with her entire battle group. Your attempted desertion may have caused a media stir, but you did not delay the battle group’s departure by so much as a minute. The embarked Marines are on their way to the Sandbox, to perform the mission that they were trained to do.

You did, however, manage to fu*k up your own future.

As I’m sure you’re aware, the Navy isn’t just going to let you go easily. They’re going to put you on trial for desertion. You will probably end up spending a year or longer in military prison, doing hard labor. And how do you think your fellow prisoners will respond to you? Do you think they’ll respect your decision to shirk your duty? Of course, you will also be reduced in rank to E-1, forfeit all of your pay, be dishonorably discharged, and lose eligibility for the GI bill and any veteran’s benefits you might have otherwise claimed.

To your credit, you’ve stood up before the cameras and said that you are prepared to accept the consequences for your actions. We’ll see about that.

Did your new friends at Veterans for Peace and the (deceptively named) San Diego Military Counseling Project tell you the rest of the story? Did they mention that even after you are released from the brig, you would have a permanent federal criminal record as a convicted felon? How do you think that will look when you try to apply for work? What employer would want to hire someone who refuses to honor his commitments? You also told the reporters that your wife is behind you "1,000 percent." How long do you think she will stick around, when you can’t get a decent job?

A man’s word is his bond, Pablo – and yours just dropped to junk status.

And for what? We still haven’t heard what this dramatic statement is that you are trying to make. “War is bad?” I’m a veteran – tell me something I didn’t already know. Enlighten the rest of us: what is so gawdawful important, that it’s worth screwing up your life like this?

But let’s put your personal considerations aside for the moment. After all, a martyr cares nothing for his own life. That is how you see yourself, isn’t it?

When you were planning your dramatic “statement,” did you think for a minute about how this would affect your shipmates? You are a fire control technician on the Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missile system. The Navy doesn’t have a bunch of spare FCs sitting in cold storage. Your ship is going to the Arabian Gulf, and will have to pass through the “threat arcs” of Iran’s Silkworm anti-ship missiles – and in case you haven’t noticed, we’re not exactly buddy-buddy with the mullahs these days. The Sea Sparrow is a critical point-defense system for your ship. So your job isn’t one that the Navy can afford to shrug off – somebody else is going to have to do it.

One of two things is going to happen. Either your shipmates are going to have to pull extra shifts to cover for your absence, or – more likely – somebody from another ship is going to get emergency orders to take your place in the coming days. Maybe that person is married; maybe he even has kids.

And you pulled this little stunt just in time for Christmas.

No man is an island, Pablo. Your actions will have consequences far beyond what you intended. Did you think about that? Is all of this really worth screwing over your fellow sailors? Are you really so self-absorbed? What part of "One Team, One Fight" did you not understand?

The best that you can hope to achieve by continuing along the course you have chosen is for your life to become a cautionary tale – a warning to others to avoid the siren call of blind self-righteousness.

But it’s not too late for you to end this nightmare.

Kick your new buddies out of the apartment. Shave your stubble. Put your uniform back on. Grab your ID out of the sock drawer. Call the duty officer. Turn yourself in. Take your lumps at Captain’s Mast. Serve out the rest of your enlistment. After that, you can protest the war to your heart’s content, with a clear conscience.

A real man keeps his commitments, Pablo.

Be a man and do your duty.

Regards,
SMASH
http://www.indepundit.com/archive2/2004/12/an_open_letter_1.html

Aw gee, Pablo landed on "Go to Jail, do not pass Go". And Pablo doesn't have a "Get out of Jail Free card".

At least Pable gets "Free Parking" and will be a guest of Club Brig for the next year.

posted May 12, 2005 02:50 PM              

The Navy, though, was only doing what it had to - he signed a contract, made a commitment, and then broke it. It's only right that he's been convicted.

Once again, good for him for living up to the consequences and not flying.

----

posted May 12, 2005 03:57 PM              

There's a lot of soul-searching and self-discovery that can happen over the course of a few years.

posted May 12, 2005 06:58 PM            

And why don't you leave the US if you think it's so meritless?

I have a question for all of you who seem to loathe the US.

Have you ever been outside the country? To places that are third world? Mexico? SE Asia? Africa? The middle East? South America? The Carribbean? Not as a tourist, but say, visiting someone who isn't rich who lives there?

I recently spent several weeks in Mexico City, and I've got to tell you, I'm suprised every last Mexican isn't trying to get into the US, and we should count ourselves lucky at that.

For starters, their laws are based on Napoleonic law. There, you are "guilty until proven innocent". Try to prove your innocence from behind bars.

The cops are grossly corrupt, as are their elected officials, who incidentally, recieve legal immunity from prosecution of any kind upon being elected.

They have various sayings in their culture that espouse the concept, "you can't get ahead without stepping on people".

As for the environmentalists who demonize the US... Mexico City is grossly polluted. I mean, like nothing you can imagine if you've never been somewhere like it. It makes LA look like a mountain meadow. There are no emissions control measures (unless you count being unable to drive your car one day per week unless you can afford to bribe the cops $100 to let you go). There is no EPA in Mexico (perhaps there is in name, but they do nothing). Noone regulating pollutants coming out of factories. Nothing.

The haze is so bad that from a plane taking off at a few thousand feet, the visibility is at a few miles at best. You can see brown in the air several hundred yards in front of you.

You smell sewage in the streets because their sewer systems vent to the open air (they don't have more advanced systems to vent the gasses to prevent explosions).

Feral dogs are rampant. Imagine waking up in the night to the sound of dog fights and dogs whimpering. There is no SPCA or Animal Control to call. That's just the way it is.

Everything costs the same as it does in the US, however an educated person with a degree and years of experience is lucky to make $20,000/year.

Oh yeah, and they're super racist. You don't see dark-skinned people looking people on TV, as broadcasters, celebrities, or even at the local universities. White people, Mexican or not, receive considerably better service at restaurants, department stores, the movie theater.

It's a country rife with corruption, social inequities, and little opportunity. In a major city, their most modern, it's still unsafe to drink tap water.

And that's just our neighbor to the south. I'd hate to think what it's like in Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, India, Bangladesh, Paksitan, etc.

America isn't perfect, but all the America haters need to go spend four weeks living like a "regular" person in a 3rd world country, then get back to me about how bad we've got it here.

You've got no idea how good you've got it. And every inhabitant of every 3rd world country would probably love to slap you across the face for your ungrateful, whining attitudes.

You want to make the world a better place? Quit your bitching and join the Peace Corps. Go DO something about it.

posted May 12, 2005 07:35 PM              

It's not your problem what i think about the govt. It is my opinion.

And only light skinned people on tv? Ha. Don't know which countries you have been to but my countries are nothing like that. Don't compare the whole world to only one place you have visited.

I am more well informed than you are and will always be because I am surrounded by lots of people of lots of different nationalities.

posted May 12, 2005 07:38 PM            

You must be surrounded by ignorant people because you're about as well informed as a dust mite.

You can take your superior attitude and move back to one of "your countries" you're talking about.

If your family is from another country, with your bad attitude towards the US, you don't deserve to be here, and if your family mirrors that attitude, you can all go back to where you came from as far as I'm concerned.

You're the epitome of ignorance - you think you know it all. If you already know everything, there's no room in that skull of yours to absorb anything new. Too bad. You're doomed to a life of ignorance. Have fun.

posted May 12, 2005 07:43 PM              

And how about you go back to Europe or something. This isn't your real country either. Unless you are native american.

Ha Ha I'd like to see this country without minorities.

Typical american idiot who wouldn't know the truth even if it bit them in the arse.

posted May 12, 2005 07:46 PM            

So as you are so fond of saying, if you don't like what I say, ignore it.

posted May 12, 2005 08:03 PM            

Would someone give this girl a hug?

And now I'm off to band practice, so rest assured any further asinine comments won't be answered for several hours. Just an FYI.