On Powerpoint

[jmm99]

took a right turn ... to Helsinki.

That is where one of his op-ed outlets (Ilta-Sanomat) has had much the same content as his UPI columns - source: our Man in Helsinki , charlylsp, Finnish language blog by Col. Sellin.

His 64 columns for UPI, start 13 Mar 2004 (1st Astan column, 28 Sep 2004). His columns from the month before and the month of the sack (his 2d Astan tour) seem rational enough.

Afghanistan status check
KABUL, Afghanistan, July 8 (UPI) -- I have been in-country about one week, enough time for some initial impressions.

Cynical thoughts about Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan, July 15 (UPI) -- Will the epitaph of the war in Afghanistan be motion without progress and knowledge without wisdom?

Afghanistan's tribal trouble
KABUL, Afghanistan, July 22 (UPI) -- Former CIA Director Richard Helms counseled that when dealing with societies in and around the Middle East, pay attention to the things that are hundreds of years old -- the religious sects, the clans, the tribes.

Battle of Barg-e-Matal
KABUL, Afghanistan, July 29 (UPI) -- If the battle of Barg-e-Matal ever goes down in history, I am not sure if it will be treated as a victory or a defeat or a tragedy or a comedy.

Is Pakistan the enemy in Afghanistan?
KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Each day between 25 and 50 Afghan civilians, Afghan, coalition and American soldiers are wounded or killed by the Taliban.

North, the new front in the Afghan war
KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- A recently released U.N. report states that 1,271 Afghans died and 1,997 were injured in the first six months of this year. Three-quarters of these casualties were caused by Taliban forces, mostly from roadside bombings.

Afghanistan’s last, best hope
KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- The real enemy in Afghanistan is reactionary leadership represented by corrupt politicians, ruthless warlords and the twisted religious extremism of the Taliban.

Colonel (Eversti) Sellin would not get along well with the detained folks at Gitmo (from the "Battle-of-Barg-e-Matal" piece):

The immediate task is to destroy the Taliban's capability to wage an insurgency. That means, first and foremost, to defeat them decisively in the field.

Simultaneously we must isolate them nationalistically, culturally and religiously from the Afghan people. The Taliban are invaders and murderers, who are religious extremists, who don't respect Afghan tribal traditions and who possess foreign pan-Islamic ambitions not in tune with the needs and desires of the Afghan people.

(and from the "North, the new front in the Afghan war" piece):

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- A recently released U.N. report states that 1,271 Afghans died and 1,997 were injured in the first six months of this year. Three-quarters of these casualties were caused by Taliban forces, mostly from roadside bombings.

The Taliban has also continued its practice of carrying out brutal atrocities against civilians. They claimed responsibility for killing members of a civilian medical team in the remote, northeastern province of Badakhshan, which has, until recently, been a relatively peaceful area.

At about the same time, in the northwestern province of Badghis, the Taliban killed a 47-year-old pregnant widow accused of adultery. She was flogged 200 times and then shot in the head. The man responsible for impregnating her was apparently not punished. ... (much more in article)

Regards

Mike

[AdamG]

took a right turn ... to Helsinki.

Colonel (Eversti) Sellin would not get along well with the detained folks at Gitmo (from the "Battle-of-Barg-e-Matal" piece):

Obviously not (having first-hand experience with them there detainees), but it was a play on The Village fate of folks who retire with a bout of tea-cup shattering.

[Bob's World]

Thus proving the old adage of "the truth hurts." It hurt the feelings of the recipients, so they retaliated against the speaker of it. Truth is an absolute defense in a slander case, and there is no slander here.

This paragraph reminded me of a 6 month sentence I served on the Army CAT preparing twice a day briefs for the Army senior leadership:

"The commander’s immediate subordinates, usually one- and two-star generals, listen to the CUA in a semi-comatose state. Each briefer has about one or two minutes to impart either information or misinformation. Usually they don’t do either. Fortunately, none of the information provided makes an indelible impact on any of the generals."
I never ceased to be amazed at how when a slide carrying some incredibly important issue would be interrupted by some star-wearing G-staffer to comment. Rarely was the comment one of substance, but most often one demonstrating amazing skills at ignoring all substantive data to focus on looking for errors in basic math or font pitch.

"Excuse me, but on slide 24 it showed a total of 67,345 troops in theater, yet on slide 32 it shows 67,348. Which one is it??"

or

"The font of the 3rd bullet down appears to be 2 points smaller than the other bullets."

Such comments were always followed my mummers of approval and congratulation by their peers sitting high above the action officers in their alcoved balcony; and general head-shaking and exchanged glances of "WTF?" between the action officers below.

Yet build a slide that points out that the decision to concentrate all CASEVAC at Bagram and Kandahar was leaving a vast territory where SOF forces were operating far outside the Golden hour and it is pulled from the brief during rehearsal. "This would embarrass both the aviation and medical generals." By all means, besides, I should have been focusing on checking the math and font pitch on my regular slides...

I know Larry and he is a very sharp officer who cares deeply about the mission. He is a bit quirky and doesn't play the game very well though. He probably overlooks critical issues like minor math and font errors as well.

[AdamG]

Mr Meek tries to make sense of the Army's dichotomy, while Yossarian continues to fly more missions.

Ironically, reporters asking about Sellin's sudden status as military folk hero -- for blowing the whistle on what he agrees is fast resembling a permanent war -- have been told by a NATO flack that the colonel didn't have enough "situational awareness" in Kabul's IJC nerve center to [**critique the war**](http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/0...or-powerpoint-...). But as I noted in yesterday story about Sellin's dismissal, he had enough of "situational awareness" to be tasked with briefing a reporter from one of America's largest daily newspapers.

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dc/...to-war-wh.html

"I had added no value to the war effort," the Special Forces officer and native of Saddle Brook, N.J., lamented after getting booted out of Afghanistan.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010...rt-longest-war

Welcome to the Greek chorus, Colonel. Sign for your helmet, spear and shield behind the stage. Stand next to Hans and take your cues when the fat lady starts singing.