Brother of military resister Pablo Paredes speaks out: “Human life is worth more than this

ON DECEMBER 6, 2004, Petty Officer Third Class Pablo Paredes was scheduled to ship out from San Diego for Iraq on the USS Bonhomme. Instead, he showed up in a T-shirt that read, “Like a cabinet member, I resign.”

Pablo held a press conference to explain his opposition to the war and occupation in Iraq. “I can’t sleep at night knowing that’s what I do for a living,” he said. “I’d rather do military prison time than six months of dirty work for a war that I and many others do not support.”

In taking a stand against the war, Pablo joined a growing number of military resisters--including Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia, who is serving one year of hard labor for refusing to return to his unit in Iraq after a furlough, and Sgt. Kevin Benderman, who refused deployment to Iraq in January.

Now, a defense campaign is being organized to help Pablo. Here, his brother, VICTOR PAREDES, talks to Socialist Worker’s GEOFF BAILEY about the case.

TELL US about Pablo’s case.

PABLO’S SHIP received orders to transport 3,000 Marines and equipment to the Persian Gulf on December 6. At that point, my brother had a significant objection to those orders because he knew he was contributing to an act of aggression.

He knew there were a lot of lives being lost, and there was a lot of questioning about the justification for the war. So he decided to disobey the order to board. He was very public about it and invited a lot of media there when he did so. He explained his reasoning and has been explaining it ever since. He began to search out legal assistance and counseling.

On December 18, he felt confident that he had gotten some coverage, had his counsel in place and was prepared to submit his conscientious objector (CO) status. At that time, he turned himself in to the naval authorities.

Up to that point, the Navy had been declaring him a deserter. When he turned himself in, he was put in legal holding while his CO status was being reviewed. It’s kind of like being on parole. He has orders to go to the base from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and he has weekends off.

We’re waiting to hear whether they accept his CO application, or whether they are going to charge him.

IF PABLO’S application is denied, what charges might he face?

WE EXPECT that most likely, he will be charged with “unauthorized absence” and “disobeying an order,” and possibly “missing ship’s movement.” None of those are terrible offenses: he could receive a few months in military confinement and would be discharged in some way--probably less than honorably, but not dishonorably.

But the military has a range of ways of dealing with this. They can keep it disciplinary, which would carry very few repercussions, or it can go all the way up a special court-martial. It can be as bad as a year and as bad as dishonorable discharge. But we don’t think that will be the case.

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