Fear and Loathing

[woodchip]

I guess it is a sign of the times when the Secretary of Defense feels fearful of his own troops:

"In a sign of the nervousness surrounding the visit, Marines and other troops among the 200 people gathered in a tent at Camp Leatherneck to hear Mr. Panetta 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. "
"Normally, American forces in Afghanistan keep their weapons with them when the defense secretary visits and speaks to them. The Afghans in the tent were not armed to begin with, as is typical. "

Funny how the previous administration didn't require the troops to disarm.

[Tunnelcat]

Yeah, that lovely previous administration, who started the world's 2 longest wars, hadn't yet burned out the troops enough to drive someone to such desperation or outright craziness that they went out and killed unarmed women and children with extreme prejudice. Obama needs to bring our people home from a place that was only considered second banana to Bush's other war. Bin Laden's dead, job's done.

Either that or nuke the entire country if we think it's still a terrorist hotbed, because we ain't going to win over hearts and minds now. The troops are all just targets, whether they think they're good guys or not.

Maybe Panetta's worried another one will crack and shoot him.