Charges Filed Against Anti-War Sailor
Citizen Smash smashes chicken-shit deserter Pablo Paredes in one of the best “I told you so…” rants you’ll ever read.
The only surprising element about how this story has unfolded is that it took this long for the Navy to formally charge you. We can only guess as to the reasons behind the delay. Perhaps the Navy just wanted to make sure they did a very thorough investigation before moving forward. Maybe the powers-that-be believed a delay might stifle some of the excitement about your case in the anti-war movement. More likely, there was some bureaucratic SNAFU that had to be worked out.
Regardless, the outcome of the investigation was inevitable. You did, in fact, miss ship’s movement, by your own design. You did, in fact, take an unauthorized leave of absence from your assigned duty station. These are the charges against you.
What did you expect? I’ll bet someone convinced you that if you filed a very thorough conscientious objector package, there was a chance that those charges would never be filed. I’ll bet you thought that chaplain’s endorsement of your CO package was your silver bullet. I’ll bet you thought the Navy was going to quietly let you go, to avoid a big stink.
Well, as Red Forman might say: “Pablo, you’re a dumbass!â€
Dear Pablo—I sincerely hope that you enjoy your time making little rocks out of big rocks.
Remember when I told you that you had “fucked up” your life? Just wait until you try to apply for a government-sponsored loan, or get a decent job with that BCD [bad conduct discharge] hanging over your head. How’s your marriage holding up, Pablo? Is your wife having any trouble providing for the baby? Do the words “parental responsibility” mean anything to you?
One day, in the not-to-distant future, you’ll regret your decision not to spend six months in air-conditioned comfort on the big gray ship. You could even have taken part in tsunami relief efforts, if you had just done your duty.
Dear Pablo—when you finally do get released from Ft. Leavenworth, do us all a favor, and move. I don’t care if it’s France, Canada, or The Congo. Just move. Because you are no longer welcome here.
Dumbass.
****
UPDATE: April, 26 2005 — Military deserter and anti-war Left poster boy Pablo Paredes has been denied conscientious objector status. His request for Other than Honorable discharge in lieu of a court-martial trial has also been denied.
“‘I wanted to be very public about it because dissenting voices do not get much attention,’ John | March 29, 2005, 8:52 pm
shame on the media for making him a story. but it is just like them to turn a coward into a hero while they ignore the couple of thousand Sailors and Marines on the ship he abandoned.
Jack Army….that’s what Mil Blogs and other conservative blogs are for—countering the anti-war and anti-military bias of the Main Stream Media (and most liberal blogs, too).
We do recognize that 99.9% of our soldiers are men and women of honor, courage, and integrity. Pablo is amongst that rare 0.1% that are none of those things.
Thanks for your service to our country.
Robbie- I’ll start by saying I completely disagree with your characterization of the media as anti-war: I think Wolf Blitzer shivered with glee during ‘Shock and Awe’.
The bigger, more worrying point for me is that conservatives act as if they believe that questioning authority is unpatriotic.
I’m not sure there’s been a single story on the nightly news about the death of Iraqi civilians- they’re so cowed with fear of reporting the actual effects of war. The refusal of Sinclair owned television stations to even show photographs of the 1000 Americans killed in Iraq is a another example of the media whitewashing the reality of war in favor of a sanitized ‘patriotic’ version.
We (at least not I) don’t think that questioning authority is unpatriotic. We think obstructing authority is.
When your ‘questioning’ of authority clearly gives hope and comfort to the enemies of the US…you are being an obstructionist. When your ‘peaceful protests’ unlawfully block traffic, shut down businesses, or result in the physical attack of those that don’t agree with your liberal rhetoric…you have stepped over the line of questioning.
And, in Pablo’s case, when you fail to report to duty—which you raised your hand and swore that you would do—you are a coward, you are most definitely unpatriotic, and you deserve to be punished to the full extent of the law.
[...] d. I hope he spends some good, hard, long time at Ft. Leavenworth. [...]