Article

2007-03-07 Afghanistan

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Posted by Steve 2007-03-07 09:04|| || Front Page|| [11128 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Maj.-Gen. Ton van Loon

This guy's name just doesen't cut it!!

Posted by ARMYGUY 2007-03-07 10:23|| 2007-03-07 10:23|| Front Page Top

#2 Isn't the loon the nickname for the Canadian dollar coin or something?

Posted by rjschwarz 2007-03-07 11:38|| 2007-03-07 11:38|| Front Page Top

#3 Maj.-Gen. Ton van Loon, commander of the alliance's regional command south

That sounds like a Dutch name.

Posted by trailing wife 2007-03-07 12:19|| 2007-03-07 12:19|| Front Page Top

#4 Loon is also the name of the bird that appears on that coin. ;)

Posted by eLarson 2007-03-07 12:38|| http://larsonian.blogspot.com]">[http://larsonian.blogspot.com] 2007-03-07 12:38|| Front Page Top

#5 are they gonna eradicate the poppy fields before they start growing good??

Posted by sinse 2007-03-07 12:56|| 2007-03-07 12:56|| Front Page Top

#6 the "Looney"

Posted by Albemarle Elmeresh7932 2007-03-07 13:46|| 2007-03-07 13:46|| Front Page Top

#7 Loons are one of North America's most majestic diving birds. Their wing span is about 5 feet and if you have heard their call on a fogged lake, it stays with you for life. The birds are elegant and powerful. It's also the Minnesota state bird. Our lake has several that nest here. If a guest is lucky they can hear them during the dinner hour and often late into the night.

I'm still stuck on the idea of the Taliban thinking they can even stand 10 minutes against tanks.

Posted by Icerigger 2007-03-07 15:13|| 2007-03-07 15:13|| Front Page Top

#8 depends on the terrain, and the AT weapons theyve got I guess. I dont think theyre as well fortified in Musa Qala as the hezbies were in Leb, but I dont think the initial Musa Qala op is going to be mainly armor. The tanks are if they run into Kandahar province = when theyre out in the open, maybe using vehicles to run, is where the tanks will be ideal.

Posted by liberalhawk 2007-03-07 15:31|| 2007-03-07 15:31|| Front Page Top

#9 Hawk are you thinking air strikes first?

In case anyone is interested, a link to our lake's loon webpage.

Posted by Icerigger 2007-03-07 16:09|| 2007-03-07 16:09|| Front Page Top

#10 Albemarle Elmeresh7932, no, the coin's called a "loonie". There is also $2 coin, called a "toonie" (nothing to do with toons, tho, there's a polar bear on the reverse).

Posted by twobyfour 2007-03-07 17:30|| 2007-03-07 17:30|| Front Page Top

#11 You are right TW, Van Loon is a Dutch name, pronounced the same as the word 'loan'. Two o's are the Dutch spelling of a long O vowel sound.

Posted by another occasional observer 2007-03-07 17:56|| 2007-03-07 17:56|| Front Page Top

#12 ...troops will sweep northern Helmand of Taliban extremists... "Taliban extremists"?
Isn't that redundant?

Posted by GK 2007-03-07 18:00|| 2007-03-07 18:00|| Front Page Top

#13 It would be interesting to know how the hell those Leopards got there. Overland thru one of the kStans? Airflifted by C-17s?

Posted by Shipman 2007-03-07 20:07|| 2007-03-07 20:07|| Front Page Top

#14 The Dutch immigrant history professor Hendrick van Loon is one of my favourite writers, another occasional observer. His Lives was the book that formed my thinking in the way that so many here were influenced by Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.

Posted by trailing wife 2007-03-07 22:17|| 2007-03-07 22:17|| Front Page Top

#15 Wow the loons are beautiful...

I have a cousin who lives out in the woods on the Wisconsin side of the St. Croix river near Stillwater. It is such beautiful country out there, I really wish I could move out there. You are really lucky to be able to hear those beautiful birds from your house.

Sure beats the hell out of New Jersey...

Posted by garbagecowboy 2007-03-07 23:44|| 2007-03-07 23:44|| Front Page Top

#16 NIce, but are they rolling in the right place > CBC > RUSSIA TO CHECK CANADA FOR WMDS - Russian surveilliance/recce aircraft will overfly Canada to check for traces of WMDS, via bilateral Canada-Russia Open Skies agreement.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2007-03-07 23:52|| 2007-03-07 23:52|| Front Page Top

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