04/07/15 04/07/15 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> estimations from six april as of yesterday, are 540 people have been killed and some 1700 wounded by the violence in yemen since 19 march. amy: as the death toll rises in yemen following the saudi-led attack, we speak to journalist safa al ahmad about the rise of the houthi. her documentary, "the fight for yemen," airs tonight on frontline. been to arms control expert william hartung, how the obama administration has approved more arms sales than any u.s. administration since world war ii -- more than half the sales have been to the middle east and persian gulf, with saudi arabia topping the list at $46 billion.

then to "cowspiracy." >> a vegan diet produces half as much co2 1/11 the amount of fossil fuels 1/13 of water. i realized i had the choice every single day to save over 1100 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain, 30 square feet of force did land, the equivalent of 20 pounds of co2, and one animal's life. amy: as california experiences a massive drought, we will speak to two documentary filmmakers about the link between climate change and meat consumption. then we look at how the tsa's "behavior detection" program is being used to target undocumented immigrants, not terrorists. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the united nations has demanded

access to a palestinian refugee camp in syria invaded by the self-proclaimed islamic state, warning of a humanitarian catastrophe. about 18,000 people have been trapped in yarmouk, just a few miles from outside the capital damascus -- the stronghold of syrian president bashar al-assad. there were reports of sporadic fighting monday between palestinian fighters and isil militants. isil is reportedly collaborating with rivals from the al-qaeda-linked nusra front to maintain its siege of the camp. before boarding a flight earlier today, christopher gunness spokesperson for the united nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees described the situation to democracy now! >> the situation is beyond inhumane. levels are unknown even in yarmouk, society which women died of childbirth for lack of medicine and children died of malnutrition. now isis has moved into the camp and people are cowering in their

battered homes, too terrified to go outside. we have not had access since the fighting started, so there is no human food or water or medicine. -- no u.n. food or water or medicine. it is astonishing that a civilized world can stand by while 18,000 civilians including 3500 children, and face potential imminent slaughter, and do nothing. amy: fierce fighting between houthi rebels and forces loyal to ousted president abd-rabbu mansour hadi have continued to rage in southern yemen. including the former stronghold of aden. agence france press reports over 140 people were killed in a period of 24 hours. the red cross has warned of a dire humanitarian situation and demand access to besieged areas. according to the world health organization, the violence has killed over 540 people and injured about 1,700 in less than three weeks. about 100,000 have been displaced.

saudi arabia, meanwhile, has asked pakistan to aid its bombing campaign against the rebels in yemen. more after headlines. kenya has launched another round of airstrikes in somalia targeting the militant group al-shabab, which claimed responsibility for the massacre of 148 people, mainly christian students, at a garissa university college in kenya. kenyan authorities said they destroyed two al-shabab camps on monday. but a resident told the associated press the strikes appeared to hit grassland used to graze animals. officials in iraq say investigators have begun combing through mass graves in the city of tikrit after it was reclaimed from the self-proclaimed islamic state. the graves may contain the bodies of up to 1700 soldiers who were captured by isil as they swept into the city in june. defense secretary ashton carter has urged congress to give president obama fast-track authority to seal the secret transpacific partnership trade deal currently being negotiated

between the united states and 11 latin american and asian countries. speaking at arizona state university ahead of a trip to asia, secretary carter touted the obama administration's so-called rebalance toward the asia-pacific region, saying it should include both new, high-end weaponry and the trade deal, which covers 40% of the global economy. carter compared the deal to a new aircraft carrier. >> but to pp also makes strong, strategic sense, and it is probably one of the most important parts of the rebalance, and that is why it has one such bipartisan support. in fact, you might not expect to hear this from the secretary of defense, but in terms of the rebalance in its broadest sense tpp is as important to me as another aircraft carrier. it would deepen our alliances and partnerships abroad and underscore our lasting commitment to the asia-pacific.

and it would help us promote a global order that reflects both our interests and our values. amy: six environmentalists with the group greenpeace have boarded a shell oil rig in the middle of the pacific ocean to protest shell's plans to drill in the arctic. the activists climbed aboard the polar pioneer as it was transported to seattle ahead of drilling in alaskan waters. they plan to occupy the rig and unfurl a banner showing the names of people opposed to arctic drilling. a new study in the journal natural geoscience predicts glaciers in west canada will shrink by 70% by the end of the century as a result of climate. -- climate change. researchers say the results may be applicable to other glaciers around the world. the national transportation safety board has called for urgent steps to prevent oil train explosions, including the retrofitting or replacing of tank cars over the next five years. a series of explosions in the united states and canada have highlighted the risks posed by the so-called bomb trains. the obama administration is expected to release new rules

for oil tank cars next month. jury deliberations begin today in the trial of accused boston marathon bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev. the defense has acknowledged tsarnaev's role in the bombings which killed three people, but sought to pin the blame on his older brother, tamerlan. tsarnaev could face the death penalty. the justice department has voiced support for a transgender prisoner in georgia who is suing state prison officials over the deprivation of medical care. imprisoned since 2012, ashley diamond has been ordered to strip with male prisoners, raped at least seven times, subjected does held in solitary confinement for "pretending to be a woman." diamond has also been deprived of the hormone treatments she critically took. in its statement of support, the justice department said diamond has "received a constitutionally inadequate level of medical care for her gender dysphoria." the news comes just days after a federal judge ordered prison officials in california to allow a transgender prisoner undergo sex reassignment surgery. in illinois, an autopsy has revealed a 17-year-old african-american boy killed by a

zion police officer over the weekend was shot twice in the back. justice howell was shot dead saturday. police say they were responding to a report of an argument or possible gunshot, and that they recovered a handgun at the scene. but witnesses have contradicted that account, saying howell was unarmed. a fraternity chapter at the university of virginia which was accused of hosting an alleged gang-rape in "rolling stone's" retracted article has announced plans to sue the magazine. following a report from the columbia graduate school of journalism which found multiple reporting and editing errors "rolling stone" has continued to place blame for the report on the alleged victim at the center of the piece, jackie. "rolling stone" publisher jann wenner told "the new york times" that she was a "really expert fabulist storyteller" who manipulated the magazine. but columbia journalism school dean sheila coronel said the report placed responsibility squarely on "rolling stone." >> there are problems of

standards and procedures. they had nothing to do -- those were the key issues of our report. we don't believe in this case jackie was to blame. amy: "the new york times" reports presumed republican presidential candidate jeb bush reportedly inaccurately listed himself as "hispanic" on a 2009 voter-registration form obtained -- registration form. bush tried to laugh off the error monday, tweeting -- "my mistake! don't think i've fooled anyone." but the florida democratic party tweeted -- "hey, jebbush, did you know it's a third degree felony to submit false information on your voter registration form?" cia whistleblower john kiriakou has revealed new details about the cia's internal debate over the arrest, rendition and torture of canadian citizen maher arar. kiriakou told the canadian press news agency numerous colleagues warned against arresting arar, saying he was innocent. but kiriakou said an unnamed female officer insisted on pressing ahead, saying arar had links to al-qaeda. arar was arrested at new york's

kennedy airport in 2002 and sent to syria, where he spent nearly a year being tortured, interrogated and imprisoned in a , grave-like cell. canada formally apologized to arar and paid a $10 million settlement after a canadian inquiry found he was totally innocent. but the united states, which was responsible for his rendition, has never apologized. kiriakou meanwhile remains under house arrest after revealing the identity of a covert officer to a reporter who didn't publish it. kiriakou exposed the bush-era torture program and became the only official to be jailed in connection with it. in new york city a group of , artists have erected a 100-pound bust of nsa whistleblower edward snowden atop a monument to revolutionary war soldiers in a park. video published by the website animal new york shows the unidentified artists under cover of night placing the bust on top of a column in brooklyn's fort green park.

one of the artist speaks in the video using voice distortion. cooks >> without risk, the really is no reward. would look at this as a gift to the city. amy: by monday afternoon, the statue have been covered with a tarp and was removed. and former new york city labor leader victor gotbaum has died at the age of 93. gotbaum led the country's largest municipal workers' union for over two decades, beginning in 1965. under his leadership, district council 37 of the american federation of state, county and municipal employees became one of the first unions to publicly oppose the vietnam war, and saw its membership more than triple. known for his militant organizing, gotbaum is also credited with helping to save new york city from financial ruin by striking deals with bankers and city hall. he died after a heart attack on sunday. and those are some of the

headlines. this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with aaron maté. aaron: welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin in yemen where intense fighting to houthi rebels continues to rage. the u.n. says hundreds of been killed and more than 100,000 displaced. since i did arabia launched military campaign -- saudi arabia launched a military campaign to ask ago. 74 children have died. >> estimations from six april, as of yesterday are, 540 people have been killed and some 1700 wounded by the violence in yemen since 19 march. 74 children have been known to be killed and 44 children maimed since the fighting began on 26 march. but we say we are aware these are conservative figures and we

believe the total number of children killed is much higher. amy: the red cross has warned of a document attorney situation and amended access to the the siege darius. the most intense violence is in the southern city of aden with more than 140 people killed in 24 hours. saudi arabia has asked pakistan to provide soldiers the heightening the possibility of a ground invasion. for more, we're joined by journalist safa al ahmad. her latest documentary appears tonight on pbs stations across the united states. in the film, safa was granted extremely rare access to the houthis as they advanced in yemen. welcome to democracy now! can you talk about the fight for yemen and this access you had, who the houthis are, how you followed them in yemen? >> i have be very curious about the houthis for years, especially i've been going to yemen for a few years and i have always wanted to get access to

the houthis. finally, when i heard last september that this surrounded the capital sanaa, i thought things would escalate if they took over the city. they're very interesting because they are very young group. they keep morphing their understanding of who they are and what they want as they progress. it was very hard to pin it down to one thing. but if i must describe the houthis in one line, it would be the revivalist with strong and type your list agenda. -- anti-imperialist agenda. they have a words that describe who they are in what they want, but in reality, they want control in yemen. that is what they have done. they did not have enough control in sanaa, but they've come across most of north yemen and reached that and. aaron: the conventional line we hear is they received

heavy backing from iran. what is your assessment? >> i think that is vastly overblown. very little good journalism has been done to prove the relationship between the houthis in iran. i don't doubt there is a relationship, but how extensive is that? for people to blatantly call them iranian-backed shia militia, i think that is very problematic. the houthis of local agenda local grievances, and local power. the rise of the houthis themselves had nothing to do with the iranians. i think there is a relationship with them at the moment, but not to the extent the world of claims there is for iran. saudi arabia has deeper connections with yemen. they have a large border with yemen, and the saudis have sent money directly and arms to different groups inside yemen. so i would argue between the two, saudi arabia has the much

bigger influence in the upper hand in yemen. amy: talk about the role right now saudi arabia, what exactly is happening in yemen on the ground, the conditions of people there. and a moment, we will be speaking with an arms control expert who will talk about the obama administration pouring more money into making more weapon sales than any administration since world war ii. the largest recipient of those -- of that military aid in weaponry is to saudi arabia. >> yes, record-breaking number of contracts i think i've been told to the saudis in the past two years. i don't know who they're using them against. yemen is the poorest air country so to have this huge alliance against yemen for allegedly trying to break the backs of the houthis, i think it belies it. now that the houthis have come to aden, which the airstrikes

were allegedly trying to stop from happening. large alliances on the ground. they're not an occupying power coming from nowhere. they have been working on spreading that alliance throughout the areas that they controlled. so the saudi war on yemen saudi-led airstrikes on yemen will have very limited impact on the power of the houthis on the ground, unless there are ground troops. and even then, what is the solution? i don't know what is the endgame of this. the saudis claim it is to bring back presidenthadi to yemen, but i think for a lot of yemenis, he has lost his credibility, lost his legitimacy. he called for a war on his own people. i think for a lot of people that is extremely problematic. the humanitarian crisis is astounding to begin with, even before this. and now with the whole air and

sea embargo, there is very little fuel, food shortages. it is frightening and heartbreaking what is happening. the numbers the u.n. is saying are most likely much lower than what is actually on the ground. aaron: what you see as a solution? somewhat say the houthis are allied with saleh. >> a lot of people blame saleh for this. he has waged six wars against the houthis because of his fear of their dance man. and now they're allied together. problem is, you can't just look at what is happening now as in today or this week in yemen. this problem has been going on for a long time. they have supported a dictator, and even when the revolution happened to oust saleh in 2011

comedy americans continue to support corrupt political parties that have only the personal interest. and the u.n. has played a detrimental part and what is happening in yemen as well. all of the peaceful the civil society that helped bring this revolution on were put to the side and only the political parties and americans and the u.n. and the gcc, including saudi arabia -- they can't just look at the situation now in yemen and say, oh, look what is happening. you have a role to play in where yemen is right now. there was an article the other day when the special forces left a military base, they left $500 million worth of arms in the base. who do they think was going to have control of that? they don't know, probably. this is part of the really problematic american foreign policy when it comes to yemen. the tunnel vision about antiterrorism. whoever is a dictator and in

control, he is our only ally against al qaeda. like that is the only problem. and the drone strikes have completely and utterly failed. instead of crushing al qaeda, we have alliances to isis. the situation keeps getting from bad to worse. amy: before your film tonight that will be airing around the united states, "the fight for yemen," you made the film "saudi secret uprising" in saudi arabia. and you briefly tell us about that and how it illuminates the saudi regime? >> i have been following the protest that of an happening in saudi arabia for a while in the eastern provinces. i finally got commissioned by the bbc to do a documentary about it. this is an unprecedented, historic event. they have been protesting for over three years and nobody has been covering it or talking about it, although, it is happening within the context of all the other revolutions that were happening in the arab

world. of course, it was in a revolution, it was an uprising in protest. yet he goes into the whole idea of the typical image of saudi arabia. nobody wants to talk about the issues to mystically happening inside the country. the protest started with like a lot of the others, for example in libya, for freeing political prisoners. instead of freeing the political prisoners, the government has increased its own detentions of the people who went out in the streets to protest. the escalation of demand from the protesters kept getting higher, as the government continued to oppress the protests. we can put it within the context of what is happening in the whole middle east, where the people are trying to renegotiate their relationship with their governments. unfortunately, and the arab world, most of them are dictatorships and they do not tolerate another voice.

they treat them with violence. then they are surprised with the protesters turned violent as well. they have created the enemy. they don't want a peaceful form of reform in the country. they just want to continue with the status quo. that goes back to yemen as well. aaron: in terms of the status quo, how decisive is the u.s., in your view? >> how decisive? aaron: how decisive is the role of the u.s. in supporting these autocratic regimes you described? how critical is that to maintaining their power and their repression? >> there are two things. there is an internal issue where the people themselves have decided, like with mubarak in egypt, there's no longer any possibility for this rule to continue. that will happen despite american intervention. but that does not relieve american foreign-policy from the

responsibilities they have. they're going to pay lip service to human rights violations and respecting democracy and wanting these kinds of things in the middle east, then they need to stop arming dictatorships and then surprised when their used against their own people. it is a really hypocritical line the americans are using toward the middle east. you can't have it both ways. you can't claim you want democracy and then you are the number one seller of arms to those dictatorships. it is quite problematic. like the news in the past couple of weeks about sweden stopping selling weapons to saudi arabia because of the women's rights. come on, did you just find out that women have rights? that they are in an oppressive regime? i think this quite opportunistic as well in that perspective. we need to have more complex more in-depth stories and coverage of countries like saudi arabia, because they play a huge role in the region.

continuing to talk about it in this really simplistic way is really death metal to be understanding of what is actually happening on the ground. amy: safa al ahmad, as you cover the houthi in yemen how did they respond to you as a saudi journalist and film maker? >> it took a lot of talking. it helps because i knew a lot of those people from before they came into power. i have been coming to yemen for years, and they knew me a new i tried to go -- several times. but even then, they were very worried about media to begin with. it took a lot of talking and convincing. every step of the way, i needed to talk more and try to get more access. it was never at some point, like i never had carte blanche access to them. it never worked out that way. they are very, very secretive

about their decision-making process, the filming of people involved as members. so it was a constant negotiation. i was never just given access just like that. that is why took so long to get access that i did in the end. amy: safa al ahmad, thank you for being with us, saudi journalist and full maker. her latest document, "the fight for yemen" premieres tonight on pbs around united states. one a 2015 freedom of expression award for previous film. when we come back, we look at the weapon sales of the obama administration, and then "cowspiracy: the sustainability secret." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with aaron maté. aaron: we turn now to the major increase in u.s. arms exports under president obama. as saudi arabia continues u.s.-backed strikes in yemen and washington lifts its freeze on military aid to egypt, new figures show the majority of u.s. weapons exports under obama have gone to the middle east and persian gulf. saudi arabia tops the list at $46 billion in new agreements. william hartung writes that even after adjusting for inflation --

"the volume of major deals concluded by the obama administration in its first five years exceeds the amount approved by the bush administration in its full eight years in office by nearly $30 billion. that also means that the obama administration has approved more arms sales than any u.s. administration since world war ii." amy: to talk more about these figures, we're joined now by bill hartung, director of the arms and security project at the center for international policy. his latest book is, "prophets of war: lockheed martin and the making of the military-industrial complex." he recently wrote an article headlined, "the obama arms bazaar: record sales, troubling results." welcome back to democracy now! talk about the numbers. talk about the weapons. where are they going? >> i was astonished and researching the article that obama had sold his much. under the record deals, but to outsell the eight years of bush to sell more than any president since world war ii, i was

surprised. the majority, 60%, have gone to the persian gulf in the middle east and within that the saudi seven the largest recipient of things like u.s. fighter planes, catching the top -- apache attack helicopters. aaron: what you think the iran nuclear deal, if anything, portends for sales to the middle east? president obama's about the color meeting with the leaders involving gulf nations. do you see them exploiting that the call for increased military purchases from the u.s.? >> unfortunately, yes. you would think reduction of tension should reduce the sales, but the saudis have been screaming throughout the deal, saying you're letting a ran off the hook -- which is not the case. therefore, you double cup armaments, which is one of insane. amy: how does the obama administration spending on military weapons and does the

obama administration spend money on military weapons are just allowing the weapons to be sold to these countries? how does it compare to the two terms of the george w. bush administration? >> primarily, these are sales because the saudis and others in the gulf can afford them. under bush, they sold about $30 billion less than the 169 billion dollars of the first five years of obama. already in five years, he has sold more than bush did in eight years. amy: what does this mean for war in the world? >> i think we're seeing the results now. saudi arabia is using u.s. weapons to bomb yemen, civilians have been killed, egypt has open sales against them -- that open sales against them. they've supported dictators for years, prior to obama. that has armed the counterattacks for places like

egypt and the saudis going into crush democracy movement and bahrain. it has been a negative force for many years. i think it is spinning out of control. your piece points out it is not just u.s. arms going to regimes. when countries go haywire like in yemen, iraq and syria, u.s. weapons in up in the hands of militants. >> exactly. we don't know the full numbers but in iraq, the security forces have gained margin of the weaponry -- given large amounts of weaponry. armed by the cia, when over to join isis. there are millions of dollars of weapons missing. some have gone to the houthis and others to al qaeda. forces have split in this war. it is quite possible every side of that war in yemen may have some level of u.s. weaponry. it is gone haywire. sort of what i call the boomerang effect. amy: i would like to ask about a

recent exchange between deutsche bank analyst myles walton and lockheed martin chief executive marillyn hewson during an earnings call in january. financial industry analysts use earnings calls as an opportunity to ask publicly-traded corporations like lockheed about issues that might harm profitability. hewson said that lockheed was hoping to increase sales and that both the middle east and the asia-pacific region were "growth markets." >> even if there may be some kind of deal with iran, there is volatility all around the region and each one of these countries believes they have got to protect their citizens and the things we can bring to them help in that regard so similarly that is the middle east. i know that us what you asked about, but you can take that same argument to the asia-pacific region, which is another growth area for us. a lot of voluntarily -- volatility and happened with north korea as well as tension between china and japan.

in both of those regions, which are growth areas for us, we expect there is going to continue to be opportunities for us to bring our capabilities. amy: during the call, hewson also noted that 20% of lockheed's sales in 2014 were international -- that is, to non-american customers. she added that lockheed has set a goal to get to 25% over the next two years. >> there's been a slight blip in pentagon procurement. the company's need to grow constantly. they're looking to up foreign sales to make a pretty reductions at the pentagon. as we heard in the clip, they're looking to areas of conflict. it is not surprising, but i'm surprised she said it so explicitly. she was asked about the iran question, would that suppress the market. she basically said, there's plenty of turbulence, don't

worry about it, as it is in east asia, and these will be our growth markets. she is more or less acknowledging they thrive on war and the threat of war, which is not surprising to a lot of people, but nonetheless, to say it like that, i think is a bit shocking. to just put it right out there. aaron: earlier this year the u.s. announced it will allow foreign allies to push -- purchase armed drones for the first time. american firms can sell them abroad will be subjected to a case-by-case review. talk about this policy. your very critical of it. >> yes. it has some rhetoric that makes sense. you can't use these drones for illegal surveillance to watch her neighbors. a once they're sold, very little control over how they are used. and given the regimes in the persian gulf, they party sold unarmed predators, or about two the uae so it is quite possible we will see the context of the

world in yemen, perhaps armed drones sold to these countries. it is fine to say we will control their use, but the record in iraq and yemen and elsewhere makes that quite dubious. amy: as we see the obama administrations dramatic acceleration of u.s. weapons sales abroad, can you talk about the u.s. requirement on the licensing of weapons and weapons-related exports? >> the industry has wanted relaxation for years. the obama image to show finally deliver that. they took things from the state department, which shows -- does a somewhat better job, it took thousands of jobs for them in historically in promoting themselves, not vetting them. it will be easy for some to get arms without a license in those countries will become smuggling, no doubt. it will be counter to the narrowest security interest of the united states, but something the industry as one of her quite a while. aaron: the world's first treaty regular eating arms trade took effect last year. the arms trade treaty. the u.s. cited, the senate has

not ratified it. you write that is still a positive thing. >> compared to bush, which was joined at the hip with the nra and would not go near the arms trade treaty, at least the u.s. a administration signed it. it commits them on paper not to sell to human rights abusers, not to let arms that may be involved in corruption -- obviously, that is been violated, in my opinion, and some of the current sales to the middle east, but it is a state or they should be held to because they did sign that treaty. amy: they signed the treaty and accelerate weapons sales abroad. would you say financing the weapons industry is actually a motivation for being involved in wars abroad? >> i think it is one element. i think there is an ideological element, an element of u.s. global reach and global control. it are reinforcing point is to sell arms and to help these companies.

sometimes it is made quite explicit when they sell to the saudis, for example, the pentagon will point out they created x number of jobs created in the united states. amy: so the weapons industry does better under the democrats than the republicans? >> at the moment, they're doing better on the arms sales front -- amy: and where did the contributions go? >> they tip who has ever -- whoever has power. there quite supporter oftheir quite supportive of obama. amy: we want to thank you, bill hartung. what are you recommending? >> i think the obama administration should live up to its vegetables on the arms trade treaty and commerce should take a closer look at some of these sales to speak out against them. i think civil society groups, which opposes, should make their voices louder because in many cases, most americans don't even know this is happening.

amy: bill hartung, director of the arms and security project at the center for international policy. his latest book is, "prophets of war: lockheed martin and the making of the military-industrial complex." we will link to his bees "the , obama arms bazaar: record sales, troubling results." when we come back, we look at the drought in california. what does it have to do with animal agriculture? what does it have to do with eating meat? stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with aaron maté. aaron: one of the worst droughts in decades continues to ravage

california. some 98% of the state is now suffering from a water crisis. last week, california governor jerry brown ordered residents and businesses to cut water use by 25%. it's the first mandatory statewide reduction in california's history. one group not facing restrictions is big agriculture, which uses about 80% of california's water. some have criticized brown for not capping water usage by corporate farms that grow water-intensive crops such as almonds, pistachios, and alfalfa hay -- which is exported to china to help feed the country's growing herd of dairy cows. a recent documentary looks at the link between climate change and livestock. the documentary is called, "cowspiracy: the sustainability secret." it contends livestock is the leading cause of deforestation water consumption and pollution despite many environmental organizations' relative silence on the issue. this is part of the film's trailer. >> there is suppression and mismanagement of information everywhere. >> it starts at the local level, because all the way to congress.

>> when you consider the devastation it is having our planet as well as the oceans. >> they can dictate the federal policy because they have so much political power. >> one of the largest industries on the planet, the biggest environment impact, trying to keep us in the dark about how it is operating. >> that is the one thing nobody talks about. >> unfortunately, we are no longer able to film your final project -- find your film project. we have some concerns and have to pull out. >> you're going up against people who have massive legal resources and you have nothing. >> a lot of people keep their mouth shut because they don't want to be the next one with a wound to her head. amy: that was part of the trailer for the recent documentary, "cowspiracy: the sustainability secret." according to the pacific institute, 47% of a californians' water footprint is in meat and dairy products. well, for more, we go now to san francisco, california where we're joined by kip andersen and

keegan kuhn. they are the award-winning directors of the documentary film. kip andersen and keegan kuhn welcome to democracy now! talk about what is causing the drought in california and what you have documented, you believe contributes so much to it. >> you know, the drought in california is being caused by millie from climate change and there is not enough rainfall -- caused mainly by climate change and there's not enough rainfall. california is using more water than it has available to it. 47% of california's water footprint is made up in meat and very products. so these are very water intensive products, and californians and americans are consuming and exacerbating the already drought conditions. aaron: how does livestock compare to other environmental dangers like fracking, for example? >> fracking is a great example.

it gets a lot of attention because of water use. fracking uses about 100 billion gallons of water every year in the u.s., which is a tremendous amount of water, but agriculture uses in excess of 34 trillion gallons. the emissions that come from animal agriculture are about equal to natural gas and petroleum production. it is an issue that is vastly more destructive when it comes to water consumption, water pollution, and even emissions. a let's go to a clip from "cowspiracy." explain how much water goes into producing a hamburger. >> i found out one quarter pound hamburger requires over 660 gallons of water to produce. here i've been taking the short showers trying to save water and a find out just eating one hamburger is equivalent of showering two entire months. so much attention is given to lowering our home water use, yet domestic water use is only 5% of

what is consuming in the u.s. versus 55% for animal agriculture because it takes upwards of 2500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. i went on the government's department of water resources save our water campaign where allen's behavior changes to help conserve our water like using low flow shower heads, efficient toilets, water saving appliances, and fixing leaky faucets to nothing about animal agriculture. when added up, all of the government's recommendations, i was saving $47 a day but still that is not even close to the 660 gallons of water for just one burger. amy: that is kip andersen in the film "cowspiracy." how does the mandate the 25% decrease in water, affect -- does it affect animal agriculture, as you call it? >> it actually doesn't affect animal agriculture. it is placing restrictions on people using -- not watering their lawns and doing anything you can, good restaurants and

have to ask for water, simple things like this, taking short showers. another thing we mention later in the film is to produce one gallon of milk takes 1000 gallons of water. amy: why is that? >> rather than being concerned about having one glass of water -- amy: why does it take that much water? >> it takes that much water because the animals have to be said grains or feet of some type. alfalfa is incredibly water-intensive. it is that primarily to livestock. it uses 50% of all of california's water -- 15% of all of california's water. though the water footprint goes on to that animal products and on to the consumer. looking at a pound of beef in california takes from 2500 8000 gallons of water to produce. aaron: in this clip, we hear from a couple of doctors who described how animal agriculture is leading to the extension of

species -- extinction of species. >> concern of loss of species agree the primary cause of loss of species on earth that we are witnessing is due to overgrazing and habitat loss from livestock production on land and by overfishing, which i call phising in our oceans. >> the rain forest is being cut down at the rate of one acre per second and the driving force behind this is animal agriculture, cutting down the forest to graze animals and grow soybeans, genetically engineered soybeans to feed to the cows and hicks and chickens. aaron: can you comment on how livestock ask the contributes to the extinction of other parts of the species on a mass scale? >> the destruction happening to the entire ecosystems, as dr. tuttle says, massive areas of the rain forest, amazonian rain forest, are being cleared for cal production. they look at up to 91% of amazon

destruction is linked to animal agriculture in some way, whether varying land for grazing or growing soy and corn that is being fed to the livestock. but when you look in the united states, where public land raising where animals are crazed on federal lands in this animals compete with native fauna for vegetation and also pervaded on by wild -- by all caps, cody's. that is what we've seen a decrease in wolf's population and what they are being targeted because of their threat or perceived threat to the cattle industry. amy: there's been a lot of discussion about the amount of water it takes to grow almonds. can you talk about how meat consumption compares to vegetable consumption of water? >> 10% of all water in california is used for almonds

which is a tremendous amount. just off off a loan, a crop not consumed by just just alfalfa alone, a crop consumed by just animals, 82%. 10% of water in california is feeding 82% of the world's almonds demand. americans aren't consuming nine ounces of almonds per day, which is not the case for animal agriculture. the water footprint is vastly greater because of the quantity we are consuming. it takes about 1500 gallons of water to produce a pound of almonds. it is the quantity we are consuming. aaron: i want to ask about the response of environmental groups to your argument. you interview members of some of the nation's leading environment or groups. when you ask them, what is the leading cause of an terminal

degree they should, most declined to comment at any length. >> the leading cause of every mild aggravation -- degradation -- >> it is not up to us. >> it is hard to target one thing. >> i don't necessarily know what it is. >> that is a clip from "cowspiracy." your assessment of how the environment of groups have handled this issue, livestock effect on the environment? >> it is frustrating. that is where the film took a turn, looking to these organizations to tell us the answers and what they're doing about this. to find out they're really not doing anything. you go want to these organizations website and their mission statements and they don't mention the greatest distraction across the board. it is like one-stop shopper nearly every single environmental destruction happening today for this one industry yet you don't hear about this or they don't want to talk about this. the interviews in the film, a lot of people when you see them there laughing, but it is very

serious. these are the organizations we have to look at to step up and tell the truth, just to share the information of what is really going on full top -- going on. amy: i want to turn to will potter who reports on animal rights and environmental movements. he's the author of, "green is the new red: an insider's account of a social movement under siege." in this clip from "cowspiracy," potter discusses the government's repression of animal rights activists. >> the animal industry is one of the most powerful on the planet. most people in this country are aware of the influence of money and industry on politics, and we really see that clearly on this play with this industry in particular. most would be shocked to learn animal rights and environmental activists are the number one domestic terrorism threat according to the fbi. >> what is that? >> that is a difficult question to answer. i think a big part of it is that they, more than really any other social movement today, are

directly threatening corporate profits. amy: that is will potter in the film, "cowspiracy." keegan, if you could respond to that and end with why you call the film "cowspiracy." >> is a terminus amount of repression activists face for blowing the whistle against this industry. there are a series of ag gag laws across the u.s. this is because of the governments in this industry work hand-in-hand oftentimes. this industry so powerful, can put pressure on congress to pass legislation that doesn't benefit consumers and only benefit the industry. we joked around about the title "cowspiracy" for a while because it seems so ridiculous te. but it really starts to come out and something we explore in the film in-depth that this issue is so rooted in so many -- as kip

said, no matter whether it is ocean dead zones, habitat destruction, rain forced distraction, the list goes on and on, animal agriculture is at the forefront of the issue. why aren't these organizations talking about it? we really encourage people to go to our website to find out more in to look at all of the facts. we have a fact sheet on cowspiracy.com for all of the information used in the film. amy: kip andersen and keegan kuhn film makers for "cowspiracy: the sustainability secret." thank you. we move now into our last segment. aaron: last month, the website the intercept revealed it's quite easy to be deemed a suspected terrorist at a u.s. airport. a leaked checklist used by the transportation security administration shows an expansive list of suspicious signs for screening passengers. yawning, fidgeting, whistling, throat clearing, and staring at one's feet. all of these, according to the tsa, are considered behaviors that indicate stress or

deception. well, now, the intercept has revealed who the program actually targets -- not terrorists, but undocumented immigrants. taking a five-week period at a major u.s. airport, the intercept found that 90% of all those arrested were detained for being in the country illegally. not a single passenger was arrested for ties to terrorism. the overwhelming detention of undocumented immigrants bolsters criticism that government screening programs have targeted passengers with racial profiling. amy: i hesitate to clear my throat here, but they've also cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. the checklist is part of the tsa's controversial program known as the "screening of passengers by observation techniques," or spot. it employs specially trained officers, known as behavior detection officers, to watch and interact with passengers going through screening. the tsa has trained and deployed thousands of these officers, spending more than $900 million on this program since its inception in 2007. for more we are joined by the reporter who broke this story, jana winter is a reporter with

the intercept. her latest piece is headlined, "tsa 'behavior detection' program targeting undocumented immigrants, not terrorists." so explain how and welcome to democracy now! >> thanks for having me. well to be clear, this is just a five-week period of one major international airport in 2007. we don't know if this is still what is going on, although, all of my sources currently at tsa say it is. but if you look through what happened during this timeframe so 429 times, a behavior detection officer interacted with the passenger they thought might be suspicious. meaning, those same indicators on that checklist like, your luggage is heavier than it appears to be -- which is me and everyone. out of that group, 47 were referred to law enforcement. out of the 47, 16 were arrested in total, 14 for being in the

country illegally. that is about 3.75% of their entire work product for five weeks. it resulted in an arrest. and they were for people being in the country illegally. aaron: how did racial profiling factor into these? >> according to my sources within the program or people who have worked in the program in the past or any of the numerous oversight agencies that have been looking at this program for quite a while, the way it was designed in the model it was based off of was related to what customs and border protection was doing. this is a very effective way for finding drugs or people being smuggled across the border. you are looking for fake ids fraudulent travel, you know, any kind of document. according to my sources, you can look for these signs like confusion, people who are wearing pretty similar identical

outfits that are new and all of the signs on the checklist for terrorism, but it is just how you find undocumented people in the country and not terrorists. my sources say from the very beginning, this was never going to find terrorist's. amy: what is the tsa saying about these documents? are they saying you are now arming the terrorists with the documents of how they seek them out? >> i have no idea, because when i reach out to them for comment i hear they have been skiing and unavailable for five weeks. or they do not respond. last night when i got into penn station at about 11:30, all of a sudden, the one tsa spokesman started say reading all of my tweets on twitter. i'm like really? i'm still waiting for your comments. i added, do these numbers indicate current trends, nationwide trends? i have no idea what they're saying. they had been defending this

program that is based on complete junk science and has been over $1 million, basically, during the job of customs and border protection, which is not the mission of the tsa. aaron: can you talk about the tsa encroaching on the mandate of another agency and possibly jeopardizing the rights of people who are undocumented, but not trying to cross the border, per se? >> in some cases they are trying to cross the border. once you going to the airport -- but for the last six or eight years since its inception almost, the gao, dhs inspector general's office various congressional committees have said, and looks like you are targeting undocumented immigrants. the tsa has this thing where they classify everything is sensitive security information. it is like their own intrinsic classification. so they could not release anything.

the gao reports have redacted, redacted, tsa would not supply the documents. people have long been saying this is what is happening. we just now have numbers to show that, here it is, where are your terrorists? >> amy: jana winter, thank you for being with us, reporter with the intercept. her latest piece is headlined, "tsa 'behavior detection' program targeting undocumented immigrants, not terrorists." we will link to it at democracynow.org. that does it for our program. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

(music playing) ♪ i get the question asked so often: what do i cook at home for my wife chantal as a romantic dinner? well, if you stay with me on the show, i will share with you every single recipe and dish that i'm preparing at home. to kick it off, i prepared something really special. i started out with some vodka, and what i did here is i actually froze the vodka. i took like a flower pot and filled it with different ingredients like celery or rose petals or fresh fruit and orange rind filled it up with water and froze it. so when

the time comes on serving the vodka it's chilled and i serve it with the block of ice on it. i'm going to show you how to make some wonderful blini or thin crepes made with parsnips and served with caviar and chopped egg white and egg yolks. then it's lobster thermidor, a french classic filled with rich chunks of lobster meat and a silky, creamy vegetable filling.