The United States Army and Marines are finishing work on a new counterinsurgency doctrine that draws on the hard-learned lessons from Iraq and makes the welfare and protection of civilians a bedrock element of military strategy.

The international forecaster editor Bob Chapman writes: This past Saturday in Venezuela, it was announced that a sniper with a long-range rifle and a motorcycle to escape was captured … his target was President Hugo Chavez Frias.

Israel’s army chief sacked a top general on Wednesday for criticizing the Israeli government’s policy and the military’s conduct during the recent offensive in Lebanon, the BBC reported.