Ahead of first big Senate war-powers hearing, study finds 2-to-1 support for sending Americans into combat

Congressional hawks who favor sending U.S. ground troops to fight the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria got a boost on Wednesday from a new poll that found Americans favor doing so by a lopsided 2-to-1 edge.

The Quinnipiac University assessment, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points, confirmed a public opinion trend since late last year showing that Americans are increasingly turning in favor of ground combat after months of Islamic State videos showing the group’s atrocities in agonizing detail, including the beheadings of U.S. nationals.

The poll comes as a trio of top officials —Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey —are scheduled to face questions about President Barack Obama’s war plans from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a March 11 hearing.

The Quinnipiac poll found that 62 percent of Americans support sending U.S. troops to fight IS, as the militant group is also known, in Iraq and Syria. Thirty percent oppose such an escalation.

Fifty-three percent of respondents said they worried that the U.S. military “will not go far enough in stopping” IS, while 39 percent expressed concern that the military will go “too far,” Quinnipiac reported.

Obama has asked Congress to greenlight a sweeping Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) that expires in three years and includes deliberately vague language restricting “the use of the United States Armed Forces in enduring offensive ground combat operations.” Republicans, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, have loudly complained that the AUMF imposes wrong-headed limitations on the military campaign. Democrats, including Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) have worried that the vague language does little, if anything, to limit the operations, because there is no precise meaning to “enduring ground combat operations.”

The measure would not confine the war on IS to Iraq and Syria, a geographic limit that some Democrats had sought. And the expiration date would make any renewal fight the next president’s problem, something that makes many Republicans unhappy.

Democrats privately accused the White House last year of stalling debate on the AUMF in order to kick the process to a Republican-controlled Congress more likely to oppose limits on the military campaign. Administration officials have privately expressed concerns about losing too many Democrats in any final AUMF vote, which would show the world that the United States is divided about tackling IS.

The vague language of the White House-drafted AUMF reflected those concerns, as well as strong opposition from top administration foreign policy and national security staff to setting any meaningful limits on the operation.

It’s not clear that Congress will overcome those divisions and approve an AUMF. Next week’s hearing is expected to showcase the broad divisions among lawmakers and hint at what — if anything — the White House is prepared to do to shore up support.

The White House has said it is already acting legally, citing the 2001 AUMF that was approved in response to the Sept. 11 attacks as well as the president’s war-making powers under Article 2 of the Constitution.

A White House official recently told Yahoo News that the administration would not object if Congress were to amend the proposed AUMF to stipulate that it — not the 2001 AUMF —is the only authority for the military campaign. But that would not restrict Obama’s actions, since the new AUMF expires under his successor.

The Quinnipiac poll found that that Americans favor congressional approval of the AUMF by a 64-to-23 percent edge.

Obama, who says he has no plans to send U.S. ground troops into combat against IS, has said he does not envision a massive incursion, as in previous wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. And top aides have carefully kept things similarly vague.

“I believe that we give the president the options necessary in order to deal with the emergency,” retired Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, the president’s point man on the conflict, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Feb. 25. “And ‘enduring’ might only be two weeks. But ‘enduring’ might be two years.”

On Feb. 25, Kerry told the House Foreign Affairs Committee, “We're not talking about American ground troops, and there is no authorization in here putting American combat ground troops into an enduring offensive combat situation.”

While it’s not clear how much or whether the poll will shift the debate in Congress, the general public opinion trend has appeared to show increasing support for sending U.S. ground troops into combat. Americans still seem broadly divided about the issue, however.

A February poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that 49 percent of respondents worried the United States would not go far enough in trying to defeat IS, while 46 percent were more worried about the U.S. going too far. Forty-seven percent backed sending ground troops into combat, and 49 percent opposed taking that step. An October Pew poll found Americans split 39-to-55 percent on the same issue. The latest Pew poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

A CBS News poll, also conducted in February, found 57 percent of respondents favored sending U.S. ground troops into combat, against 37 percent who were opposed. That assessment, which had an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points, reflected a big shift from a September poll that found a 39-to-55 percent split.

In Ferguson, walking while black was a crime

While forensic scientists and pundits were examining why Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed the unarmed, African-American teenager Michael Brown — did Brown strike Wilson first, or did Wilson shoot Brown purely out of racial malice? — I was concerned about why Wilson approached Brown in the first place. Well, it turns out there was something to that.

According to an investigation performed by the U.S. Justice Department into Ferguson Police Department practices, released today, it appears Wilson’s stopping of Brown that day was part of a larger system of racial discrimination and harassment of African Americans throughout the city.

The Justice Department’s investigation concluded that the Ferguson Police Department (FPD) had been engaging in conduct that violates several constitutionally protected rights for African Americans.

“As detailed in our report, this investigation found a community that was deeply polarized, and where deep distrust and hostility often characterized interactions between police and area residents,” said Attorney General Eric Holder, who will soon be leaving his post. “Our investigation showed that Ferguson police officers routinely violate the Fourth Amendment in stopping people without reasonable suspicion, arresting them without probable cause, and using unreasonable force against them.”

A huge part of the evidence found by Justice Department officials was that Ferguson police were picking on black residents for petty issues like walking in the street — what Michael Brown was doing when approached by Officer Wilson. From the report:

African Americans are more likely to be cited and arrested following a stop regardless of why the stop was initiated and are more likely to receive multiple citations during a single incident. From 2012 to 2014, FPD issued four or more citations to African Americans on 73 occasions, but issued four or more citations to non-African Americans only twice. FPD appears to bring certain offenses almost exclusively against African Americans. For example, from 2011 to 2013, African Americans accounted for 95% of Manner of Walking in Roadway charges, and 94% of all Failure to Comply charges.

More on those walking crimes — Ferguson police engaged in:

a pattern of suspicionless, legally unsupportable stops we found documented in FPD’s records, described by FPD as “ped checks” or “pedestrian checks.” Though at times officers use the term to refer to reasonable-suspicion-based pedestrian stops, or “Terry stops,” they often use it when stopping a person with no objective, articulable suspicion. For example, one night in December 2013, officers went out and “ped-checked those wandering around” in Ferguson’s apartment complexes. In another case, officers responded to a call about a man selling drugs by stopping a group of six African-American youths who, due to their numbers, did not match the facts of the call. The youths were “detained and ped checked.” Officers invoke the term “ped check” as though it has some unique constitutional legitimacy. It does not. Officers may not detain a person, even briefly, without articulable reasonable suspicion. To the extent that the words “ped check” suggest otherwise, the terminology alone is dangerous because it threatens to confuse officers’ understanding of the law. Moreover, because FPD does not track or analyze pedestrian Terry stops—whether termed “ped checks” or something else—in any reliable way, they are especially susceptible to discriminatory or otherwise unlawful use.

The DOJ report said that Ferguson’s approach to law enforcement “both reflects and reinforces racial bias,” and claimed evidence that many of their practices were at least partially due to intentional racial discrimination. These racial malpractices were especially reinforced when it comes to police brutality. The report notes that “Nearly 90 percent of documented force used by FPD officers was used against African Americans. In every canine bite incident for which racial information is available, the person bitten was African American.”

This is 2015, y’all. In two days the nation will commemorate the “Bloody Sunday” march in Selma, Ala., that led to hundreds of unarmed, church-dressed, non-violent, prayerful, Bible-clenching black people getting firehosed, badgered with billy clubs, tear-gassed, and bitten by police dogs. And here we are today, andAfrican Americans are still getting ****ing sicced on by police dogs.

Once bitten, handcuffed, and arrested, African Americans in Ferguson become lunchmeat for the court system. They are 68 percent less likely than non-blacks to get their cases dismissed by the court, and are 50 percent more likely to have their cases lead to an arrest warrant. Of those arrested for outstanding warrants, 96 percent are African American, many of them poor. In fact, many black Ferguson residents end up in jail because they can’t afford to pay court fees and fines for the petty crimes they are arrested for.

The DOJ report details how Ferguson courts basically bankroll themselves by finding ways to fine these residents. In March 2010, Ferguson’s finance director told the police chief to ramp up ticket writing “significantly” to help raise city revenue. Three years later, not satisfied with a 7.5 percent rise in court fees, the finance director asked the police chief if he could deliver a 10 percent increase.

Said DOJ about these creative city-finance schemes:

They impose a particular hardship upon Ferguson’s most vulnerable residents, especially upon those living in or near poverty. Minor offenses can generate crippling debts, result in jail time because of an inability to pay, and result in the loss of a driver’s license, employment, or housing.

DOJ chose not to bring charges against Wilson for stopping and eventually killing Brown. Its memo on that killing suggests a slight connection between Brown’s theft of cigars from a store minutes prior to his tragic encounter with Wilson and the ensuing melee. But the memo also states that when Wilson first drove up on Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson, it was only to tell them to get out of the street and onto the sidewalk. They were walking on a back road where the speed limit was just 25 mph and the two teens were already close to their destination, an apartment complex just a stone’s throw away.

It was only after that encounter that Wilson backed up his Chevy Tahoe to cut the teens off under the suspicion that they might have been involved in the earlier cigar theft. That might be enough evidence for some of you to indict Brown, or even justify his death. But when you consider the DOJ findings of how Ferguson police had harassed, ped-checked, bankrupted, and badgered black residents for years, it’s not difficult to understand why Brown didn’t merely stop and roll over when Wilson first approached.

As I wrote last December, “Wilson’s approach looked less like protecting and serving, and more like abusing and overpowering,” and now we have evidence that that’s exactly what black Ferguson residents had been suffering from for too long.

The Justice Department has issued a number of recommendations to Ferguson police to reverse these discriminatory clashes. Among them:

• Require and train canine officers to take into account the nature and severity of the alleged crime when deciding whether to deploy a canine to bite.
• Develop and implement a plan for broader collection of stop, search, ticketing, and arrest data.
• Analyze race and other disparities shown in stop, search, ticketing, and arrest practices.
• Train and require officers to use de-escalation techniques wherever possible both to avoid a situation escalating to where force becomes necessary, and to avoid unnecessary force even where it would be legally justified.

Other police departments should take note of these, because it’s not just Ferguson that has these problems.

KURAKHOVE, Ukraine (AP) — Tears welled up in Vera Pavliy's eyes as she stood outside the bank, looking as if she had just gotten lost. The 76-year-old was stuck behind the battle lines in the east Ukraine town of Kurakhove with no money and no way to get home.

The war that brought death and destruction to the region has largely abated, but the misery remains. In fact an effective government blockade on separatist-held areas is only getting worse. The goal is ostensibly to choke the rebel economy and force the separatist front to yield, but for now Kiev's actions are fostering only resentment.

For months, banking services have been suspended by state fiat. Civilian movement is limited by a cumbersome permits system. Trucks brimming with supplies stand marooned at army checkpoints and in neighboring towns.

The interruption of banking services forces hundreds of thousands in rebel territories to embark on trips across the front lines to draw pensions or cash aid from friends and family. This week, Pavliy arrived in government-held Kurakhove from the rebel stronghold of Donetsk only to learn the transfer of 4,500 hryvnia ($167) she hoped to find on her account had not gone through. Now, she says, she has no money for the bus to return home.

"I feel alien here ... because nobody cares about me," Pavliy sobbed, standing outside a branch of state-run Oshchadbank in a well-worn sheepskin coat.

Government suspension of banking services in November compounded economic hardship caused by the shuttering of businesses alarmed by the erratic rule of the Russian-backed separatists. Cash machines in Donetsk flicker idly with no money to give and shops and restaurants cannot take cards.

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In this picture taken on March 3, 2015, Vera Pavliy, 76 year-old, dressed in a worn-out sheepskin co …

Many, like 36-year old Irina Ryazhenko, travel to Kurakhove or nearby towns several times a month just to withdraw cash. She was told Monday that the new bank card she applied for in August is still not ready.

Making the trip has been complicated in recent weeks by a new requirement for people entering government-held territory to obtain a travel permit to cross back into the rebel-held east — effectively turning them into foreigners in their own country.

For those living just west of Donetsk, applying for a permit requires a bumpy, 35-kilometer (20-mile) drive to a police station in the sleepy town of Velyka Novosilka, held by government forces.

One recent afternoon, around 20 people were lined up glumly outside the station in the damp and cold to ask about the status of their applications. Chatter among those waiting was confined to grumbles about the bureaucratic chaos that often compels applicants to stay away from home for more than 10 days.

When approached by reporters, people clam up in fear that criticism of Ukrainian authorities could see them deprived of the pass. Still, the anger is palpable and talk quickly turns to yelling at the thought of the expenses that are piling up.

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In a picture taken on March 2, 2015, a man holds permits to cross from Ukraine to rebel held territo …

"I came here once and spent 200 hryvnias ($7). I came a second time and spent 200 hryvnias, and it's still not done! Now I have to spend another 200 to get this blasted pass," said one woman from Donetsk, who gave only her first name, Valentina, for fear of having her application rejected. "I'm not a millionaire's daughter. My pension is 1,000 hryvnias."

Others in line said they have been waiting to get their passes for a month. Some are lucky enough to have families in nearby towns and villages that can offer hospitality.

Ukrainian officials insist the permits are a necessary safety precaution for areas bordering rebel territory.

"In the current situation we simply haven't got any other option," said Lt. Colonel Volodymyr Kachanovetsky, an officer with the Border Guards Service in Velyka Novosilka. "We cannot control the situation over there, that's why these additional measures will help to improve the situation there, as well as here."

Alexander, who is wheelchair-bound, lives with his elderly father in the government zone, while his wife and child remain on the other side. He said he needed the permit to travel back to the rebel town of Shakhtarsk and get medical papers allowing him to receive treatment on the Ukrainian side.

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In this picture taken on March 3, 2015, a food vendor sits next to his empty stand at a meat market …

He filed for his permit on Jan. 30. After his documents were lost, he had to file a new application and finally got the permit on Monday.

"I don't know how this is supposed to improve security, but they have made things difficult for people," said Alexander, who asked for his surname to be withheld for fear of prosecution for criticizing the government. "It's just another headache."

Many rebel-held areas have defied expectations of significant food shortages. The shops that did not shut down have until recently been sporadically but adequately stocked.

That began to change in mid-February, according to suppliers and vendors on both sides of the front line. Earlier this week, some 40 goods trucks were parked by a gas station near the government checkpoint outside Kurakhove — the last major hurdle before entering Donetsk.

Ihor Suleiman, a driver from Kharkiv, said he had been waiting for five days to clear that checkpoint.

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In this picture taken on March 3, 2015, an elderly man crosses a Ukrainian army checkpoint near Kura …

"We drivers have got all the right paperwork, but they still turn us down," he said, referring to the Ukrainian troops. "What can you do? They have guns, and I don't."

While anecdotal evidence of a mounting blockade on the rebel east is abundant, exact figures on the extent to which supplies to the east have dwindled are hard to obtain. But vendors in rebel zones are feeling the heat.

A few large supermarkets in Donetsk appear to be relatively well-stocked, but outdoor markets, smaller grocery stores and pharmacies are struggling.

The second floor of a small grocery store in the city center was closed for business one recent afternoon. There simply weren't enough goods to put on display, shop manager Irina Baranova said.

"The suppliers say the trucks are waiting at checkpoints and are not being allowed through," she said.

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In this picture taken on March 2, 2015, Alexander Nikolayevich, a man in a wheelchair holds an appli …

Baranova's store had dairy, bread, alcohol and tinned goods on display, but juice and bottled water were nowhere to be seen.

A pharmacist at a drugstore a few miles away said no supplies had been brought in for a week. As prices for medicine increase almost daily, customers have been hoarding whatever is available, she said.

Kachanovetsky, the Ukrainian border official, made the procedure for getting through checkpoints sound simple. Tax officials inspect the cargo and check drivers' documents and give the green light to all those with the right documentation, he said.

Evidence on the ground suggests things are not that easy.

At Donetsk's sprawling, domed Soviet-era food market, rows of stalls where farmers once sold their produce and cheerfully plied would-be customers stand empty and silent.

One of the remaining vendors, meat farmer Vladimir Vasko, sells his own wares as well as goods delivered from the government side.

"It has never been like this before," said Vasko, who could only offer the traditional Ukrainian lard called "salo." ''It was tough but manageable before. Now we have no goods, the warehouses are empty."

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Brown Family Will File A Wrongful Death Suit Against Darren Wilson

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Lesley McSpadden, left, and Michael Brown, Sr., right, parents of teenager Michael Brown who was shot by a policeman in Ferguson, Missouri, speak during a press conference about the UN Committee Against Torture who convenes this week to evaluate the US government's compliance with the Convention Against Torture, in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014. (AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Lawyers for the parents of an unarmed, black 18-year-old who was fatally shot by a white police officer in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson said Thursday that they would file a civil lawsuit in Michael Brown's death.

Attorney Daryl Parks said at a news conference in north St. Louis County that the City of Ferguson and former Officer Darren Wilson would be named in the wrongful death lawsuit, which they plan to file promptly.

The announcement came in response to the findings of a Justice Department investigation that charged the Ferguson police department with unfairly targeting blacks but cleared Wilson in Brown's death.

Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, and his father, Michael Brown Sr., attended the news conference at Greater St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church, but they did not speak nor take questions.

Parks said the DOJ report makes it clear there are "rampant, wholesale, systemic" problems in the Ferguson police department that need to "change soon for the safety of the citizens."

He did not say specifically when the suit would be filed. He said only that, "soon means soon."