RT America -- November 7, 2014

President Barack Obama announced on Friday that he will send an additional 1,500 US soldiers to Iraq, doubling the amount of ground forces currently in the war-torn country. The announcement comes as questions over the Pentagon’s handling of the 2003 Iraq War re-emerge, with The New York Times reporting that the military sought to cover-up over 600 instances of troop exposure to chemical weapons. Professor Michael Shank of George Mason University and the Friends Committee on National Legislation offers insight on these emerging stories to RT’s Ameera David.

With California suffering one of its worst droughts in decades, farmers are accusing fracking operations of exacerbating the problem. The process of hydraulic fracturing requires vast amounts of water mixed with chemicals to extract natural gas from the ground; water that could otherwise be used to grow food, farmers contend. Artist and activist Eleanor Goldfield speaks with RT’s Ameera David to explain the fight.