From the Anchorage Daily News
http://www.adn.com/news/government/story/8016248p-7909212c.htmlBy LISA DEMER
Anchorage Daily News
Diane Benson, Democratic candidate for Congress and mother of an Iraq war veteran who lost his legs there, said Friday that the decision to extend the tour of the Alaska-based 172nd Stryker Brigade is wrong. Benson, in a prepared statement, said U.S. Rep. Don Young should be speaking out about it.
"I call on Rep. Don Young to immediately stand up for our Alaskan sons and daughters and demand that our Alaskan families are reunited as planned. We cannot allow our families to suffer any longer. We have asked them to serve, we have told them they are coming home, and we cannot inform them at the twelfth hour that we broke our promise to them," Benson said in her statement.
Benson was reacting to a decision by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that was announced Thursday to extend the tour of some 3,500 members of the 172nd Stryker Brigade who are still in Iraq. The unit is headquartered at Fort Wainwright. Some parents and spouses of the soldiers also have spoken out in opposition. The brigade already has been in Iraq a year, and nearly 380 soldiers already have returned to Alaska. The rest were due back in weeks. Then Rumsfeld decided to keep the brigade in Iraq for another 120 days; the unit's commander, Col. Michael Shields, has said the stay actually will be indefinite and will be determined by events, not time.
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Benson's son, Latseen, lost his legs to a roadside bomb in Iraq after being retained in the Army after his contract to serve in the military was supposed to have ended. That was through what's called the "stop loss policy," which allows the military to block troops from being discharged or retiring when they are needed.
Benson is one of four candidates fighting for the Democratic nomination and the right to challenge Young on the November ballot. Young is unopposed in the August Republican primary."
Here is a picture of Diane Benson and her brave son leading our Independence Day parade.