Anti-war sailor lifts foes of Iraq policy-Sentence for defying deployment orders less than expected

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 5/28/5 | Joe Garofoli

[SmithL]

Pablo Paredes' name will be invoked by antiwar veterans and activists at Memorial Day events in the Bay Area and elsewhere this weekend, but not because he was sentenced to three months of hard labor and busted down to the Navy's lowest rank for refusing to board a ship bound for the Persian Gulf.

Instead, supporters see a pinprick of hope in the no-jail-time sentence that the 23-year-old Paredes received this month -- hope that the military's attitude is softening toward dissenters, or at least that the relatively light sentence will encourage other active-duty soldiers to speak out.

Antiwar veterans groups say they have seen an uptick in the number of inquiries from active-duty veterans since Paredes was convicted by a military judge May 11 in San Diego for refusing to board the Persian Gulf-bound amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard in December. He has 10 months left in his enlistment but is seeking to be discharged as a conscientious objector.

This week, antiwar activists are watching upcoming court-martial at Fort Stewart, Ga., of Army Staff Sgt. Kevin Benderman, a 10-year-veteran who refused to redeploy to Iraq after his first tour in 2003 and said he was a conscientious objector.

"We've been seeing an extraordinary amount of searching by active duty people looking for ways to avoid deployment or redeployment," said Dennis O'Neil of the antiwar group Bring Them Home Now. The Paredes case, he said, "is planting a seed."

That was the fear that Navy prosecutor Lt. Brandon Hale expressed in court. Paredes "is trying to infect the military with his own brand of disobedience," Hale said. "Sailors all over the world will want to know whether this will be tolerated. Sailors want to know whether what he did is a good way to get out of deployment."

[SmithL]

Of course so many in the Bay Area idolize a deserter. This coward does a disservice to the memory of all of those who paid the ultimate price in defending our Country.

[King Prout]

our laws do not deal effectively with treason and desertion.

[Libertarian444]

Instead, supporters traitors at The San Francisco Chronicle see a pinprick of hope in the no-jail-time sentence that the 23-year-old Paredes received this month -- hope that the military's attitude is softening toward dissenters, or at least that the relatively light sentence will encourage other active-duty soldiers to speak out. (with the active and complicit cheerleading by left wing media maggots)

[digger48]

Amazing how the Left idolizes losers and pu$$ies.

[JakeWyld]

How many "objectors" just want to get out of going back. I wonder...

My untrained opinion tells me we need to end the cycle of military welfare. Don't join if you don't want to fight. The service is not a place for people to mooch off of the taxpayers.

I mean, who'd a thunk it...join the military and go to war. Amazing. Here I thought it was just meant as place for someone to go for a subsidized education.

[Clock King]

In the end, the military may be better off by missing its recruitment targets. It could mean the losers and welfare wannabes are not joining up and only those who are truly dedicated are doing so. This is good thing. Unfortunately, it could also mean that they're taking in the lowest of the low. The military should just do away with "target" numbers; it's not a corporation. It you want to join, join. else don't. Take the pressure off the recruiters so they don't behave in an unethical manner. R. Heinlein was right.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Are they next going out to urinate on some veteran's graves? Honoring these traitors is almost the same thing.

[Sixgun Symphony]

The brass is going soft when deserters and mutineers are given such light sentences.

Consider the recent cases of the soldier who rolled handgrenaides into the officers' tents or the one who tried to contact Al Qaida and give them information on the M1 tank. Neither of these traitors were hanged. Just goes to show how the leadership is too soft.

[ApplegateRanch]

Instead, supporters see a pinprick of hope in the no-jail-time sentence that the 23-year-old Paredes received this month -- hope that the military's attitude is softening toward dissenters, or at least that the relatively light sentence will encourage other active-duty soldiers to speak out.

This is why executions/life without parole, at hard labor are necessary. It is not so much to punish, as to deter.

With 300 million people, a 150 million increase in my life time, there are plenty of excess whiners & diners, so that the few of this type would never be missed, and most especially not by the services.