Free Republic

Since the early days of the Republic, the question of how gambling is regulated has largely been a right reserved for the states. However, this week members of Congress will discuss legislation that would overturn state laws pertaining to gambling within their borders and create a federal ban, preventing states from legalizing online gambling in the future. They claim it is to protect minors, those with addictions, and states that do not want online gambling available to their citizens. This measure will achieve none of those goals. Rather, it will undermine federalism and drive problem gambling underground. Proponents of the...

The impending 2011 military drawdown in Afghanistan conjures the specter of Saigon. Already one hears chopper blades, echoes of Operation Frequent Wind,slicing both the air over Kabul, and our promise of a brighter future for Afghan women. In late September, I spoke with the director of an influential Afghan women’s rights organization. I wanted to know if there is a concrete contingency plan for securing schools established after the US Liberation of Afghanistan. I assumed that anticipation of the return of the Talban and lack of US oversight of the “Moderate Islamic” government in place now, would be a major...

BAGHDAD, July 18 (KUNA) -- US fighter jets launched on Monday air attacks on locations suspected of being hideouts of insurgents in Rawa village, western Iraq. Both Iraqi and US forces took part in the un-named mission, launched early on Monday. Eyewitnesses said the US military launched a wide-scale operation in a number of locations in Rawa village, in Al-Anbar constituency. In another development, Iraqi security forces found a large weapon hideout in Mosul, north of Iraq, an Iraqi official said. The hideout included a large quantity of missiles, communication devices, military uniforms, knives and swords, the official added.

May was a costly month in Iraq: 700 Iraqis and some 80 Americans died, making it one of the bloodiest months of the war. While bombings in Baghdad decreased over the last two weeks as the result of a major sweep by some 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen, backed up by 10,000 troops (Operation Lightning/Operation Thunder), insurgent attacks against Iraqi civilians and police have resumed. The continuing attacks have generated the usual sort of stories in the U.S. press: America is mired in a Vietnam-style quagmire. Thus a recent Boston Globe report began by claiming: "Military operations in Iraq have...

Afghanistan’s Taliban was one of the most oppressive regimes in the world, and doubly so when it came to women’s rights. For years, various activists expressed concern about the situation of Afghan women and supported the efforts of RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan [1], to try and affect reform. So when the opportunity arose to overthrow that brutal regime, it was expected that RAWA activists would naturally back the insurrection. However, it turned out these activists were more opposed to U.S. military intervention than they were in favor of getting rid of the Taliban, even if...