There is a more worrisome situation here.
What if:
It had been Obama instead of Panetta?
What if:
The order had been for the Marines to disarm, they obey, only to find the Afghanis in attendance were not so disarmed?
What if:
The civilian leadership thought they could make a sacrificial peace offering to their Muslim hosts by giving such orders, then claiming plausible deniability when Muslim extremists made the slaughter of the sacrifice?
What if:
Any American serviceman in theater hears such commands again?
Add to your worrisome situations the fact that there was an attack on the base as Panetta landed. Turned out to be a lone suicide bomber, but there was no way to know at the time he wasn’t part of a larger effort. And knowing that, we disarm our Marines.
“....What if:...”
I hear you, brother...
You tell me. What if?
I put nothing past them.