Posted on 03/14/2012 8:06:55 AM PDT by DManA
I will give you a summery of what is being reported by ELISABETH BUMILLER in the NYT this morning.
Panetta made a surprise visit to Afghanistan yesterday. Before he would meet with the soldiers they were ordered to place their weapons outside tent and return unarmed.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
From the article.
“Normally, American forces in Afghanistan keep their weapons with them when the defense secretary visits and speaks to them. The Afghans in the tent waiting for Mr. Panetta were not armed to begin with, as is typical.”
I’ve worried that since this incident with the murder of the civilians they may order these guys to turn-in their weapons during “downtime” and leave them defenseless during the nighttime. That would be a bad move and might result in the massacre of untold numbers of GIs.
Knee jerks required, LOL!
<\Later, American officials said that the top commander in Helmand, Maj. Gen. Mark Gurganus, had decided on Tuesday that no one would be armed while Mr. Panetta spoke to them, but the word did not reach those in charge in the tent until shortly before Mr. Panetta was due to arrive.
Nope. From the article:
In a sign of the nervousness surrounding Mr. Panetta’s trip, the Marines and other troops who were waiting in a tent for the defense secretary to speak were abruptly asked by their commander to get up, place 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 reporters he was acting on orders from superiors.
“All I know is, I was told to get the weapons out,” he 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 with them when the defense secretary visits and speaks to them. The Afghans in the tent waiting for Mr. Panetta were not armed to begin with, as is typical.
__________________
“We just adjust.” Spoken like a true Marine.
This shows you that our leadership does not trust its own military. This shows you that our leadership is afraid of our military. This shows you that our military does not trust our leadership.
This heartens me. It means when push comes to shove and Obama has to impose Martial Law to maintain his despotry, he will have to rely on LEOs from Urban areas, civilian enforcement agencies that have been corrupted from the leadership downwards (DOJ, DHS, AFT, FBI, CIA, etc.).
Frankly, there just aren’t enough of them. If Obama isn’t able to form his “civilian defense force - as well funded as well equipped and as well armed as our military [sound familiar?]” , he can’t enforce his final solution. ANGs, Reserve and active military may begin to obey, but they will stop at some point.
Dugout Doug played little part in the planning of the Inchon landing other than approving it with the admonition to the real planners that if it were unsuccessful that he would place all of the blame on them. He had wanted a direct attack that would have been easily seen and thrown the troops into a huge meat grinder and considered the sea wall landing too risky, for his image.
For once, unlike his decisions with Peleliu and the Phillipine campaign, he went with the solution that worked well.
Contrast Panettas attitude toward the military and Bushs welcome in Baghdad at Thanksgiving....
Wonder if the troops welcomed Panetta like this:
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/179325-1
Bush enters at around 1:20
We may need to cut him some slack in this case. The Secret Service makes these calls.
Yes, he indicated that in hindsight it was not an unwise move.
Did the “Welcome Secretary” banner roll up by itself when he arrived just before he said “pardon me while I whip this out”?
Panetta must have gotten the Napolitano DHS briefing before he left - the one that said members of the military were terrorists.
I don’t know who to believe on this point. Your name seems to say you know what you are talking about.
Since when? I have briefed two different SecNavs and I was armed to the teeth on both occasions. In 1968 I was assigned as a guard for LBJ when he met with the Marines being sent over to reinforce Khe Sanh. I was armed with a loaded M-14 and LBJ was in full view of me the whole time.
Since when are our leaders afraid of their own troops?
You actually had ANY respect for him? I remember him during the Clinton years always going on TV with a big ol’ smirk on his face saying ‘There’s no evidence...’
It’s an underhanded insult to our military. Mr. Middle Finger _resident probably told him to do/say this.
“Since when are our leaders afraid of their own troops? “
Since we got a bunch of Marxists in our government. They know what they would do were the situation reversed. The action speaks volumes about our present government.
“Since when are our leaders afraid of their own troops? “
Since we got a bunch of Marxists in our government. They know what they would do were the situation reversed. The action speaks volumes about our present government.
Maybe he thought he was on a base in Washington state?
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