Marines asked to disarm before Panetta speech

(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

“Words fail.”

In a highly unusual move, around 200 U.S. Marines were asked to leave their weapons outside the tent where U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was set to speak during his trip to Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Although the military said the order was not given in response to Sunday’s shooting of 16 Afghan civilians allegedly by an American soldier, it possibly underlined how high tensions were running after the incident.

“You’ve got one of the most important people in the world in the room,” Maj. Gen. Mark Gurganus told reporters at Camp Leatherneck, dismissing concerns related to the shooting. “This is not a big deal.”

He said he had given the order because the two dozen Afghan soldiers also there were unarmed and he did not want to treat them differently.

…”All I know is I was told to get the weapons out,” Sergeant Major Brandon Hall told The New York Times. Asked why, he replied, “Somebody got itchy, that’s all I’ve got to say. Somebody got itchy; we just adjust.”

Also, Why I am leaving the Empire, by Darth Vader

Written in response to this Goldman douchebag resigning in “moral revulsion.”

Fucking douchebags.