Unclear if crash was attempted attack on Sec. of Defense Leon Panetta

Unclear if crash was attempted attack on SecDef
Panetta to Afghans: U.S. remains committed
By Lolita C. Baldor - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Mar 14, 2012 15:15:41 EDT
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, in a series of meetings with troops and Afghan leaders Wednesday, said the U.S. must never lose sight of its mission in the war, despite recent violence including what appeared to be an attempted attack near the runway of a military base where he was about to land.

It wasn’t clear whether it was an attempt to attack the defense chief, whose travel to southern Afghanistan was not made public before he arrived. Panetta was informed of the incident after landing.

“We will not allow individual incidents to undermine our resolve to that mission,” he told about 200 Marines at Camp Leatherneck. “We will be tested we will be challenged, we’ll be challenged by our enemy, we’ll be challenged by ourselves, we’ll be challenged by the hell of war itself. But none of that, none of that, must ever deter us from the mission that we must achieve.”
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