ASsman
12-10-2004, 06:31 PM
We speak with Navy sailor Pablo Paredes, who the military is calling a deserter and a fugitive after he refused to board his ship in San Diego as it prepared to ship out for the Persian Gulf. He joins us from California where he is now underground. [includes rush transcript] Today we'll speak with a Navy sailor who the military is calling a deserter and a fugitive. He could be arrested at any moment by the military or another law enforcement agency. On Monday, Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes refused to board his ship in San Diego as it prepared to ship out for the Persian Gulf. Remarkably, Paredes sat on the ship's pier as his fellow sailors boarded. For nearly two hours, he spoke to reporters explaining why he was refusing to board. Paredes told the journalists he was young and naive when he joined the Navy and "never imagined, in a million years, we would go to war with somebody who had done nothing to us." He says he fully expected to be arrested that day on the pier. But the arrest never happened.
A Navy spokesman said the 23 year-old from the Bronx, New York 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 believes he wasn't detained because of the media presence. On Sunday, he had called newspapers and radio and TV stations to announce his anti-deployment intentions. But shortly after he left the pier that day, he was classified as a "deserter and fugitive." He is now underground. In a moment, we are going to be joined live by Pablo Paredes. But first, we turn to an interview Paredes gave shortly after he refused to board the ship.
* Pablo Paredes, interviewed shortly after he refused to board the ship. Courtesy of Jim Carter, San Diego Military Counseling Project.
* Pablo Paredes, speaking to us on the line from San Diego.
[RUSH TRANSCRIPT (http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/10/1449250)
A Navy spokesman said the 23 year-old from the Bronx, New York 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 believes he wasn't detained because of the media presence. On Sunday, he had called newspapers and radio and TV stations to announce his anti-deployment intentions. But shortly after he left the pier that day, he was classified as a "deserter and fugitive." He is now underground. In a moment, we are going to be joined live by Pablo Paredes. But first, we turn to an interview Paredes gave shortly after he refused to board the ship.
* Pablo Paredes, interviewed shortly after he refused to board the ship. Courtesy of Jim Carter, San Diego Military Counseling Project.
* Pablo Paredes, speaking to us on the line from San Diego.
[RUSH TRANSCRIPT (http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/10/1449250)