[pabianice]

The Navy's failure to throw this bum into the brig speaks volumes about our new, sensitive military.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Shouldn't they have arrested him before he made that grandstand play?

[oldbrowser]

. Troops “are not told what exactly is the reason behind it,” he said. “I think oil is pretty much the reason.”

I was not aware that troops had to have an explanation of exactly what the reason is behind every order.
And then if they don't like the reason behind the order, then the order is canceled?
Whatever happened to having to walk the plank ?

[ORECON]

Another poster boy for retroactive abortion! As a US Navy Viet Nam Veteran, I say place him on the fantail before a firing squad with TV news cameras present.

[Mr. Silverback]

Troops “are not told what exactly is the reason behind it,” he said.

1. Probably a lie.

2. If not a lie, the reason they weren't all sat down like little kids and "told the reason" is because the American fighting man is pretty smart and can figure out that killing terrorists is a good thing.

[Mr. Silverback]

The Navy's failure to throw this bum into the brig speaks volumes about our new, sensitive military.

As was discussed in this thread, the Navy, by their own regulations, cannot arrest him until the official roll call aboard ship marks him as officially absent. As far as the Navy was concerned, he hadn't actually committed a crime yet. Don't worry, his days will soon be filled with regret, especially if he hasn't yet served enough time to "pay back" his signing bonus.

I say we keep sending these girliemen to Canada, and Canada keeps sending us their doctors. Can't think of many better trades.

[Mr. Silverback]

Correction: The bit about him not actually being AWOL yet wasn't explicitly mentioned in the thread I linked to, it was in this article:

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 is considered (to be) in an unauthorized absent status," said Cmdr. William Fenick, spokesman for the 3rd Fleet. "He is encouraged to check into any naval facility as soon as possible. Sailors have an obligation to get under way when their ships deploy, and today over 5,000 sailors and Marines met that obligation and began their deployment."

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.

Paredes had planned to publicly throw his military I.D. into the ocean to underscore his stand against the war. But yesterday, he changed his mind after learning that he could be charged with destruction of government property.

Note that last para, the wussy little moron wants us to believe he was afraid to get arrested for destruction of government property, but eager to be arrested for being a deserter. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

[relictele]

The original "Bonhomme Richard" was the ship of John Paul Jones wasn't it?

The founder of the American Navy would be ashamed of this punk little jailhouse lawyer.

PS - Jones himself was an immigrant of sorts (Russian ancestry, etc.).