Analyst's note: Absolutely must read and carefully consider. I don't know about you, but this REALLY hacks me off! If you don't have a stiff enough back bone to face your own Warriors with weapons .... then stay home Panetta. To think that political correctness was followed especially in this war zone is unconscionable. Think about what just happened here. Panetta was afraid to face armed Afghan security forces, but he will leave our relatives and friends among the Afghans (proven Islamist jihadists) AFTER he leaves. I have absolutely no respect left for this man. If your afraid Panetta, then leave the U.S. Marines armed and disarm the Afghan security forces. I could spit nails about this whole affair. Mr. Panetta, don't ever bother again to try and act like you have authority to lead even a Boy Scout parade. "We the People" turn our backs to you. Resign NOW!!! Semper Fidelis
"[....] In an indication of the nervousness surrounding Mr. Panetta’s trip, some 200 Marines who were waiting in a tent here for the defense secretary to speak to them were abruptly asked by their commander to get up, leave their weapons — M-16 and M-4 automatic rifles and 9 mm pistols — outside the tent and then return unarmed. The commander, Sgt. Maj. Brandon Hall, told a reporter he was acting on orders from superiors.
“All I know is I was told to get the weapons out,” Sergeant Major Hall said. Asked why, he replied, “Somebody got itchy, that’s all I’ve got to say. Somebody got itchy; we just adjust.”
Normally American forces in Afghanistan keep their weapons when the defense secretary visits and speaks to them.
There were also Afghan security forces in the tent waiting for Mr. Panetta. They were not armed, as is the common practice.
American defense officials later said that the commander of American forces in Helmand, Maj. Gen. Mark Gurganus, had made the decision on Tuesday that no forces would be armed while Mr. Panetta spoke to them, but that the message had not been conveyed to the commanders in the tent until shortly before Mr. Panetta was to arrive. The defense officials said that General Gurganus had wanted to be “consistent” and have no forces, neither Afghan nor American, armed.[....]"