From TheBlaze.com | By Tiffany Gabbay | On Mar 15th, 2012
On Wednesday The Blaze reported on an Afghan driver who caught himself ablaze after crashing a stolen truck at Camp Bastion — a British air field — in Afghanistan, just as U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s plane was landing nearby.
No one in Panetta’s party was hurt, but the bizarre incident prompted some nervous reactions — namely, Marines and other troops gathered in a tent at Camp Leatherneck to hear Panetta speak were abruptly asked to disarm.
In response to this highly unusual, and, to many, insulting event, Fox News host Megyn Kelly said the incident raised “troubling questions about whether our leaders trust our troops” and asked if a message was being sent that they are not even trusted “not to shoot” Leon Panetta.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Bill Cowan and Fox contributor Geraldo Rivera were among the guests present to discuss the issue.
“Allegedly, their commanding general is the one that made that decision,” Lt. Col. Cowan said. “I’ve looked at his record, he has a lot of time in combat, a lot of time in Iraq, time in Afghanistan, he himself knows that our men and women walking around over there with their weapons do not just put them down somewhere, asking them to leave their weapons at the front door is like asking them to leave their right arm at the front door.”
For his part, Rivera said there is some “real disillusionment with the mission now in light of the Koran burning and the staff sergeant’s massacre.”
He posited that “rumblings of discontent” and “troubles” surrounding the mission are what prompted the decision. “Why even take a chance in light of these extraordinary and extremely depressing events?” Geraldo asked.
“That doesn’t mean you can’t trust Marines,” Kelly responded.
“If that’s really what’s going on, they don’t trust the Marines, that’s a big deal, Geraldo because the military is coming out and saying it wasn’t about that massacre, by that one guy, and it wasn’t even about the threat that…Panetta faced at the airport, when he landed in Afghanistan, they say it’s just because we wanted it to be an even deal. Afghans don’t have their weapons, neither do the Marines.”
She concluded by asking if leaders are sending troops the message that: “We don’t even trust you anymore. We don’t trust you not to shoot the Defense Secretary’?”
This article was originally posted at: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/megyn-kelly-asking-marines-to-disarm-is-like-saying-we-dont-trust-you-not-to-shoot-defense-secretary/
