MG Mark Gurganus: What I meant to say!

Our general officers have brought the art of doublespeak to a high level of expertise.

An incident took place while Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's plane was landing at Camp Bastion, Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Camp Bastion is run by the British. An Afghan man stole a truck (Toyota Hi-Lux), drove it onto the runway while the plane was landing, and headed down the runway toward the reception party at a high rate of speed. He crashed the truck in a ditch. The truck either caught fire or the driver set the truck on fire. The end result is the driver caught fire as well and later died.

MG Mark Gurgnaus, the new head of Regional Command Southwest (RC Southwest) - where Helmand Province is located - was in the reception party as were other high ranking officers. The general said in a press conference shortly after the incident that there were no repercussions in his area of operations due to the Panjwai massacre - not even a two-man demonstration.

The real story? The Afghan man, an interpreter employed on the base, came close to running over the general and the reception party for the Secretary of Defense. The general and his party took evasive action to avoid the attack. Just 30 minutes prior to the attempt attack, the Afghan man drove over a British military member - who is now in stable condition. The plane carrying Panetta was diverted to another area. "See Top Marine targeted in vehicle runway crash", Fox News, March 16, 2012.

Later in the day Marines were assembled at Camp Bastion to listen to a speech by the Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta during his recent visit to Afghanistan. What was unusual about this appearance was that the Marines were instructed to leave the hall, go outside, stack their weapons, and then return to their seats. This is the first time that anyone has ever heard of this happening in any war. Seems the general in charge of RC Southwest - MG Mark Gurganus - gave the order. Looks like the general doesn't trust his own Marines. See "Marines told to disarm before Panetta speech", CNN, March 14, 2012.

Things that make you go "Hmmmmmm". For more behind the story news on this incident see "Afghan interpreter targeted top US Marine general, officers in Helmand", Threat Matrix, The Long War Journal, March 16, 2012.