Facing its most chronic shortage in oil in a quarter of a century, the U.S. this month is turning to an unlikely source of help: Iraq. That’s right, Iraq. As Iraq prepares for a U.S. invasion, it has doubled its exports of oil to U.S. companies, including Chevron, Exxon, British Petroleum and Shell, this according to a report in the London Observer. The U.S. is facing an oil crisis after exports from Venezuela dried up due to the ongoing management lockout.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that attorneys in the State Department and Pentagon have been studying international law to put forward a legal case to allow the U.S. military to take full control of Iraqi oil fields in the case of war.

For the first time, the Pentagon publicly confirmed yesterday U.S. special forces are already inside Iraq preparing for war. Meanwhile, members of the Iraqi opposition are reporting three U.S. military cargo planes landed yesterday in northeastern Iraq.

The prime ministers of eight European countries — Spain, Portugal, Italy, Britain, Hungary, Poland, Denmark and Czechoslovakia — have signed an open letter to the international community backing the Bush administration’s stance on Iraq.

In Baghdad today, the Center for Economic and Social Rights released a major report highlighting the human costs of war against Iraq. The report warns the U.S. military forces may commit war crimes by deliberately destroying essential civil life support systems. More on that story in a few minutes.

Hours before President Bush delivered his State of the Union address Tuesday night, the White House held a sneak preview to a select audience of Republican lobbyists and executives, including pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, AT&T and Pat Buchanan’s group American Cause.

The New York Times is reporting the Pentagon may enlist the nation’s major airlines in preparing for war against Iraq by reactivating what’s known as the Civilian Reserve Air Fleet. Airlines who take part include Delta, Northwest, American, Continental, United and US Airways. Cargo carriers include Federal Express, DHL and UPS. It can be a lucrative business. During the Gulf War, the Pentagon gave the carriers $1.5 billion to carry troops and equipment to the Gulf.

The White House announced yesterday it has canceled a poetry symposium because it feared some poets may read antiwar poems. First lady Laura Bush was to host the event. Her spokesperson said, “While Mrs. Bush respects the right of all Americans to express their opinions, she too has opinions and believes it would be inappropriate to turn a literary event into a political forum.”

And the nation’s largest cable company, Comcast, is refusing to air a 30-second ad taken out by the antiwar group Peace Action Education Fund. The group had purchased airtime on CNN to coincide with Bush’s State of the Union address. But Comcast pulled the ads, charging the ads made unsubstantiated claims.

After the annual meeting of the American Historical Association earlier this month, U.S. historians formed a new national network called Historians Against the War. So far, more than a thousand historians from 250 colleges and universities have joined in.

The Bush administration has determined Indonesian soldiers murdered three teachers, including two Americans, last August. The attack occurred while the teachers were returning from a picnic in West Papua. The New York Times reported the military may have been trying to send a message to the U.S. company Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold, which operates one of the world’s largest copper and gold mining operations there in the world. The company, for which the teachers taught, had recently reduced its payments to area soldiers. The Indonesian military had accused rebels of the murders. This news comes as the Bush administration tries to restore military ties to Indonesia.

In Boston, 70 lawsuits were filed yesterday against 41 Catholic priests, charging sexual abuse. It brings the total number of lawsuits against the Archdiocese to 470.

The world’s largest media corporation, AOL-Time Warner, yesterday posted the biggest annual loss in U.S. history, almost $100 billion.

In Columbus, Georgia, a federal magistrate has sentenced 42 protesters to up to six months in prison for demonstrating at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning.