Mother blames (Stop-Loss) policy for son's Iraq injuries (Lost legs/arm)

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7210522p-7122975c.html

The soldier son of an Anchorage poet, playwright and anti-war activist was critically injured in Iraq two weeks into a second tour of duty he did not want to serve, his mother said.

Latseen Benson, in the 101st Airborne, was struck Sunday by a roadside bomb in Tikrit, north of Bagdad. Monday night, the 26-year-old he had not regained consciousness, Diane Benson said from her Eagle River home.

Benson said her son's first four-year tour was over Oct. 31 and that he was forced to extend his service under the controversial Stop-Loss Program.

"My son is now fighting for his life with half a body left," Benson said.

Benson had this to say about Bush visit Monday to Anchorage.

"I would have appreciated a little house call while he was here," she said. "To tell me why a very fine boy has to be fighting for his life."


Diane Benson speaks at a "Bring the Troops Home" rally Oct. 25, 2003, put on by Alaskans for Peace and Justice at Town Square in Anchorage. She holds a photo of her son, Latseen Benson, who was seriously injured Sunday while serving a second tour of duty with the Army in Iraq.

:cry:

"After he had served a year as a machine-gunner in the Middle East, Latseen was featured in the Rural Alaska Community Action Program publication Village Voices in the spring of 2004. In the article he discussed what drove him to enlist.

"Most of it had to do with 9/11. I wanted to go to Afghanistan, but I never quite made it there," he said. "I just wanted to fight. I don't like it when people s--- in my back yard, I guess."

According to the article, Latseen Benson's first name is the Tlingit word for "strong." The young man, the father of a preschool-age son, described his plans for returning home, which included martial arts study and dirt-biking.

"What can I say about combat? It's a rush," he said. "Mostly those in the infantry units, we were just there, in the middle of everything."

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Wonder if he'll wake up and see what HE's done.

Gawd, it's okay to kill others but not for them to fight back, apparently.

My kids aren't into martial arts, so my knowledge is scanty, but I gleaned from watching The Karate Kid far too many times that one of the tenets of martial arts is that peace is better than fighting.

Why are the rich frat boys not being made to go to Iraq for their turn? We are forcing a lot of people into 3rd tours in Iraq, who have long ago fulfilled the debt to their country. This stop loss business has to be ended.

But it would also help if kids don't sign up to fight because they want to kick ass, in the first place. Two weeks earlier and this kid could have lost his legs during his regular term.

I wonder how the people who want out, get out when their term is over. It says in the article that people are told when they enlist, that they may be extended.

Sorry, I'm anti men running around with guns shooting at people, so I'm ticked at people who volunteer for it, as well as the stop loss. It's sad this kid lost his legs. But, he ran a machine gun. I can't help wondering how many people he hurt and/or killed. Bet they had moms.

Him saying a year ago for that magazine, that he got a rush out of combat, makes me sick.