Need to Know is a short roundup of key stories that shouldn’t be missed on your cruise through the blogosphere. The number of links in the roundup may vary but if you find it here you can trust that it’s must-read material.

Victor Davis Hanson | Honesty about Iraq
We can quibble and fight about tactics on the ground, manpower numbers, strategic postures toward Iran and Syria, the need to prod the Iraqis, but our problem is more existential. Either stabilizing Iraq now is felt critical to the United States and the West or it isn’t. If the Left is right that it isn’t, then we should flee; if they are wrong, and I think they are, then we must start using our vast cultural and media resources to explain what is at stake — in a strategic and humanitarian sense — and precisely what it is costing America and why it in the long run is worth it, and how we have adjusted to counter our enemies who in the last four years have not won in Iraq or anywhere else either.

Jonah Goldberg | Insulting your base = bad idea
The White House says it cares about enforcement, but Bush’s credibility — indeed all of Washington’s credibility — on illegal immigration is simply nonexistent. Bush and his supporters have bought into the idea that being pro-enforcement is anti-immigrant, which is why every move he makes on the issue is the political equivalent of Foghorn Leghorn trying to walk through a field of garden rakes. Conservatives dislike being called bigots and yahoos by liberals. They’re even more vexed when such barbs come from the leader of their own party.

Captain’s Quarters | The Dem reaction to Dollar Bill Jefferson
Now that the other shoe has finally dropped on Rep. William “Dollar Bill” Jefferson, the next question is what the Democrats intend to do about him. Under indictment on sixteen counts of corruption, Jefferson represents just about everything against which the Democrats campaigned last year, with their attacks on the supposed “culture of corruption”, and they’d like to be rid of the albatross. However, the Congressional Black Caucus smells a double standard, and they’re not likely to go along with any plan that could railroad Jefferson out of the House without having been convicted first.

The Captain’s Journal | Understanding Haditha
The events of Haditha occurred at the end of what we should consider Operation Iraqi Freedom 2: heavily kinetic operations against insurgents, with most of these operations involving military operations on urban terrain (MOUT). The events that most poignantly mark OIF2 occurred in Fallujah, i.e., the first and second battles of Fallujah. It is important to understand these battles.

A Soldier’s Mind | A memorial to central Texas soldiers is dedicated
The memorial was the effort of the Killeen Police Department who raised money for the memorial and collected the 390 names and photos currently etched into the memorials granite walls. The walls surround a combat display statue. According to Turck, even small children took part in the fundraiser by donating money to pay for the memorial.

BuzzMachine | F*ck the FCC
It does my American heart such good to see the system work, the courts stand up for the Constitution and the First Amendment against the — in the justices’ words — “arbitrary and capricious” censorship of the FCC (see the post below for the basics). This is an important decision for our rights, hitting at much that the FCC and his religious henchmen hold dear: their ability to regulate speech and, for that matter, to regulate speech on broadcast. I’ll review much of the decision below.

Dean’s World | Do something you selfish bastards
I’m calling you out. Yeah, you. If you think that shedding blood for your country is- in the immortal phrase- “right and good”, I am challenging you to do so… find a blood drive and give a pint. If you think it heroic for some people to give their all, you can give 1/8th…

Michelle Malkin | Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyoming, RIP
Uncommon sense. Decency. Aversion to the limelight. Sen. Thomas will be missed.

SoCal Pundit | Economy good - Media bad
It would seem that the American economy is stronger today than it has ever been. That has got to be a supreme disappointment for Osama bin Laden whose 9/11 attack was partly directed at derailing America’s thriving capitalist economy. Now, despite prognostications that gas prices and a housing market slow down would depress the economy, we seem to be in better shape then ever.

Noah Pollak | Is Iran a threat?
In one of his many dumb asides, Raimondo says that people who favor preventing Iran, by force if necessary, from acquiring nuclear weapons “don’t have any compunction about throwing the entire region into chaos.” This is probably the most wrong-headed of his many ridiculous assertions. Western acquiescence to a nuclear Iran would do perhaps more than anything else to throw the Middle East into chaos. It would shatter the balance of power that has governed the region, however shakily, for nearly forty years. Second-tier powers, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, would be sent scrambling for their own nuclear weapons and new alliances, and the United States would almost certainly be forced from the region. Raise your hand if you’re in favor of handing over control of the U.S. economy to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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