Free Republic

Welcome to the first Courage to Resist GI Resistance Support Newsletter! We are excited! We plan to send out this newsletter of breaking news and updates about GI resistance to war, occupation and empire every month and additional urgent alerts as needed. This newsletter will keep you up to date about how service women and men within the US military are taking action, and following their conscience in standing up for human rights, democratic rights and against illegal and unjust war and occupation. We will also let you know how you, your organization and your community can support them. WHY...

Nightmare On 32nd Street The Court martial-lite of Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes… [J. F. Kelly, Jr.] 5/17/05 Friday the 13th of May was an appropriate date for the public to read about the verdict and sentence of a Navy court-martial convened in the case of Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes, who refused to board his ship, USS Bon Homme Richard, for its scheduled distant duty deployment last December. His sentence for intentionally missing movement, a serious military offense, was reduction to Seaman Recruit plus two months of restriction to the Naval Station at 32nd Street and three...

Sailor Who Refused Duty Gets Hard Labor By SETH HETTENA, Associated Press Writer Thursday, May 12, 2005 Printable Version Email This Article (05-12) 20:54 PDT SAN DIEGO, (AP) -- A U.S. sailor was sentenced to three months of hard labor Thursday for refusing to ship out for the Persian Gulf in a protest against the war in Iraq. Pablo Paredes was also demoted from petty officer third class to seaman recruit, the lowest rank in the Navy. A military judge, Lt. Cmdr. Bob Klant, imposed the sentence a day after finding Paredes guilty of refusing to board the board the...

SAN DIEGO -- A sailor who refused to deploy to Iraq with the USS Bonhomme Richard has been sentenced, 10News reported. Pablo Paredes refused to board his ship on Dec. 6, claiming opposition to war with Iraq. Paredes will get three months of hard labor, with two of those months restricted to Naval Station San Diego. He also had his rank reduced from Petty Officer Third Class to Seaman Recruit, the lowest rank in the Navy.

– A Navy sailor turned anti-war activist was convicted Wednesday 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 sentence, following the day's court-martial proceeding. The trial then shifted into the sentencing phase. Paredes, a 23-year-old from the New York City borough...

SAN DIEGO - A military judge ordered a Navy sailor on Thursday to complete three months of hard labor for refusing to deploy with his ship as a protest against the war in Iraq, but he declined prosecutors' requests for time in custody. Lt. Cmdr. Bob Klant also reduced Pablo Paredes' rank from petty officer third class to seaman recruit, the lowest in the Navy. Klant's sentencing came a day after he found Paredes guilty of one count of missing his ship's movement when he refused to board the USS Bonhomme Richard as it deployed to the Persian Gulf in...

SAN DIEGO -- A Navy sailor turned anti-war activist was convicted Wednesday 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 sentence, following the day's court-martial proceeding. The trial then shifted into the sentencing phase. Paredes, a 23-year-old from the New York...

Reader Ed McNamara pointed out that the U.S Navy's web site has some excellent, high-resolution photos of the relief work going on in Indonesia, beginning here. The sailors depicted are from the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose work in the province of Aceh we described over the weekend, here. In the photo on the left, the devastated landscape of Aceh is seen from inside a U.S. Navy SH-60F Seahawk helicopter. On the right, Sumatrans gather under a helicopter that is about to drop off food and other supplies; the photo shows the flooding that still exists. Click to enlarge, and check...

Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes followed through on his plan: He refused to board his Navy ship yesterday morning when it sailed for Iraq with thousands of Camp Pendleton Marines. For nearly two hours, the weapons-control technician sat on his ship's pier at the 32nd Street Naval Station. He talked with media and waited to be arrested, but the arrest didn't happen. A Navy spokesman said Paredes, 23, wasn't taken into custody because he hadn't violated any regulations. Navy procedures stipulate that an officer can't be listed as missing until an official roll has been called aboard ship. "Paredes...

SAN DIEGO -- A petty officer who refused to board his ship when it left for the Middle East this month has reported for duty at San Diego Naval Station while the Navy decides whether to charge him. Pablo Paredes, 23, turned himself in to naval authorities Saturday after refusing to board the USS Bonhomme Richard on Dec. 6., according to The San Diego Union-Tribune Paredes has assigned duties and responsibilities but isn't restricted to the base, Navy spokesman N. Scott Sutherland told the newspaper. It could be several weeks before the Navy decides to file charges against Paredes, his...

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...

SAN DIEGO NAVAL STATION, Calif. — As his ship spun into San Diego Bay on Dec. 6 to begin a deployment, Fire Controlman 3rd Class Pablo Paredes turned his back and walked through the pier gates as a crowd of families yelled “coward!” and “traitor!” The assault ship Bonhomme Richard would leave on this deployment without Paredes, a 23-year-old who refused to board the ship with the rest of the ship’s crew. “I’m sad that anyone is on there,” he said, taking a glance shortly after the ship blew its horns and pulled from its berth. Paredes had tried unsuccessfully...

HEY! Ping, ping, ping! Arguably, the most articulate fighting man in Iraq (KVI's own) Lt. Bryan Suits will appear at the bottom of the hour to offer a differing opinion to Pablo Paredes, the traitor.

Pablo Paredes is the Petty Officer 3rd Class who refused to board his Navy ship yesterday when it sailed for Iraq ... Tony is on him! Listen to the interview online!