Unanimous nod of approval from the Senate Armed ServicesCommittee Earlier this week. President obama expected to design a bill improving suicide treatment for ptsd but took his own life. Thats going to do it. A thursday edition awaits of morning joe right now. Very cold on the east coast right now. This comes to us from brooklyn, new york. Its a cautionary tale about irony and karma and about the dangers of making your dog wear little footies. Come here. Come here. Come here. All right. Welcome to morning joe. 6 00 on the east coast. Thats sad. Whats that . I thought you said thats sad. No, good stuff. Still eating my oatmeal. Its all a very good day. Howard are you . Im good. Ready for this nice weather. Dear lord if youre in the new york area ive been checking all the maps and i talked to bill karins me tells me this time tomorrow morning, 6 00 new york its going to be minus 237 degrees. No. Its like on its going to be the scene at the beginning of the Empire Strikes back. Its going to look like a ice planet hoth willie and were going to have to find out. Were going to be riding. Were going to have to find luke. Hes out there somewhere, right . Colder than minus 273. Where . Burlington vermont. Dont do that. Home. Willie our good friend here donny, obviously going to boca right . As a matter of fact, going to south beach, yes. My kids well, its washingtons birthday. You take your kids away for the weekend. I think thats what George Washington would have wanted it. Washington would have loved south beach. There was a big debate about, you know right before the whole thing kicked off in 1776 the revolutionary war. They said we base ourselves here. South beach. I dont think the washington loved it. He really did. Those curtains and everything. Anyway were going the start with news now with tvs own mika brzezinski. Lets start in washington with the war debate happening there. And democratic and republic lawmakers appear to be in a agreement about having concerns that the obamas formal request to use military force against isis. He says the authorization to cover military operations for
three years. Once again state it would not involve troops on the ground. Now, make no mistake in is a Difficult Mission and will remain difficult for some time. Its going to take time to dislodge these terrorist, especially from urban areas. But our coalition is on the offensive. Isil is on the defensive and they are going to lose. The resolution we submitted today does not call for the deployment of u. S. Ground combat forces to iraq or syria. It is not the authorization of another ground war like afghanistan or iraq. The request prohibits, quote enduring offensive Ground Combat operations and there are also no geographical limitations. The vagueness is leading to questions on both sides of the aisle. I believe that if were going to authorize the use of military force the president should have all the tools necessary to win the fight that were in. And so as youve heard me say over the last number of months im not sure thats a strategy thats been outlined will accomplish the mission the president says he wants to accomplish. There is no limitation no statue of limitation on the original 2001 authorization. I think thats a key problem. The other major issue is the language preertaining to ground troop, broad, ambiguous. None wf us knows what enduring offensive combat operations means and deliberately i think drafted to be ambiguous. Does the president need to be more clear . It depends on who you talk to. I mean youre not going to have Foreign Policy experts and military men and women like this idea because most of them have an attitude like colin powell had the attitude. If youre going to go to war, you dont want a fair fight. You throw everything at it. You dont trickle in trickle out. Thats how you get caught in these endless occupations. I still believe to this day that it was Donald Rumsfelds obsession with a light footprint in iraq and the ignoring of Colin Powells use of force doctrine that actually caused a lot of problems. Of course george w. Bush handled. Agreed with. But, howard you listen to both sides and you really understand the pull that the president is feeling. And that is a pull that actually is reflected in the American People, who, one dont want to see americans get beheaded, our allies getting burned up by isis. But at the same time, they dont want to spend another 12 years with boots on the ground in iraq. So the president has got to free the world of this scourge but when hes talking about no Ground Troops in iraq, hes not by himself. Hes got about 60 of americans behind him. So this is fascinating. First of all, i happen to agree
with the president s position. But thats neither here nor there. This may actually be the first real legitimate debate in congress for the last four or five years because this is not a partisan debate. Theres people on both sides on both parties. The outcome of the debate doesnt really matter because they can say whatever they want. The president has the power to do what he needs to do. If the president turned around unless the resolution passed as written he can turn around and send in Ground Troops tomorrow. Which is the way it should be the president would have power to decide what the military policy should be. This is a great thing. I think its very good the president went to congress. I think theyre going to get every viewpoint and i dont think its going to be particularly partisan. We need the national debate. I agree with the way this is going. This is not going to be partisan. Youre doing to have republicans, youre going to have reservations, youre going to have democrats that are going to want to be more aggressive. A lot of cross currents going
on. We may have something break out in the house of representatives that never breaks out. Right. Im serious. A true debate. Lets go to nbc news correspondent kyra simmons who is joining us now from amman. How are they reacting to the debate in washington . Reporter i think one of the ways that its going to be viewed from here is as shedding some light on a timeline because maybe the decision has to be made there in washington before action can be taken here. Just listening to your conversation there as well, though mika another possibility is that the being clear about how u. S. Troops will or will not be used is pushing the regional powers here and those in iraq to say, okay we have to do something. There is a sense of a building towards some kind of an action. If i would say a ground offensive is very likely of some
kind because, in the end, you cant defeat isis from the air. Then the question is okay what kind of ground offensive is that . It looks like it will be heavily supported by the jordanians if it happens. The sunni, the kurds, the baghdad government. Its a Difficult Coalition to bring together. Thats the trouble. Keir its willie. How heavily are countries like jordan and the gulf states rely og the United States expecting and hoping they will weigh in heavily as this debate continues here . Do they want big numbers of Ground Forces . They have our support in terms of weapons but do they want american troop theres with them . Willie you know, as well as i do that anything like this without substantial u. S. Backing is just not a nogo. You have to have the u. S. On the side and the air strikes are largely carried out by and planned by the u. S. But that doesnt necessarily
mean that it has to be u. S. Troops on the ground because it can be u. S. Equipment, it can be u. S. Resources, and help with training in alliance with some of the other regional powers here. I mean that is possible. But heres a crucial thing, though willie. As you know back when al qaeda in iraq was defeated back in 2005 that took an uprising in iraq and it took the u. S. Military to make that happen. And question you have to ask yourself is whether or not those forces in iraq have the ability to carry off something that the u. S. Military, in all of its training and resources, was able to do. Can the iraqis really pull that off . Keir simmons, thank you very much. You know mika front page of the New York Times on this story about out of North Carolina. Chapel hill, the killing of three muslims, just and the pictures are heartbreaking, just they look like wonderful
wonderful kids. And you read through this story and this ongoing parking dispute. Because when i hear parking dispute by the cops oh, thats a bunch of b. S. Theyre trying to cover up hate crimes. But this guy this guy that shot them was constantly coming over harassing them with rifles. Said he was an atheist attacking christian on line angry man. You shoot three people in the head over a parking dispute . Its unbelievable. When you hear from his wife it becomes more and more confounding. The family think, though that it was a hate crime. And you, i guess this is whats going to be unpeeled is whether his obsession with them parking
in, i guess, his parking place, was driven in part by his hatred not only of them as muslims but also his fierce hatred of christians anybody that believes in god. Lets go to reporter on the scene joining us now from chapel hill North Carolina nbc news correspondent mark potter. Mark, we saw unc Students Holding a huge vigil last night. Want to hear how the community is coping but are there any clear answers from either side on this . Reporter no clear answers yet. But a lot of controversy and a lot of grief in this community as you indicated, mika. There was a big vigil at the university of North Carolina last night. By our count, 2 to 3,000 people there mourning the loss of these students whose lives were caught so short. Where im standing right now is front of the condo building where these killings occurred. That upstairs condo is where the suspect lived. The victims lived on the first floor behind him. Now, as you said the police say
that this killing was sparked by a dispute over parking spaces. But the victims families are just not buying it. They dont believe it. Showing no emotion, 46yearold Craig Steven Hicks came to court facing first degree murder charges for allegedly shooting to death three of his young neighbors. It occurred late yesterday afternoon in a quiet chapel hill condo complex. Residents called 911. I just heard gunshots. I dont know what building it came from but i heard skids screaming. Reporter a Family Member said police told him all three were shot in the head execution style. The victims were muslims who had grown up in america. Theyre identified as 23yearold dee a barakat, planned a trip this summer to help Syrian Refugees and the woman he just married in late december, 21yearold abusoha about to start dental school. Also killed her sister
19yearold rasan, studying arc techxture at nc state. Because of islamic state, there was immediate concern the victims were targeted because of their religion. It was a hate crime from a neighbor. Our children spoke about their uncomfortable with. Chapel hill police and other Authorities Say they believe the shootings were the result of a the events of yesterday are not part of a targeted campaign against muslims in North Carolina. Reporter the suspects wife agreed it was a dispute over parking. I cant say with my absolute belief that this incident had nothing to do with religion or victims faith. Reporter at the condo complex, residents are mourning the loss of three young neighbors. Also last night the chapel hill mayor said the investigation into the killing continues. He says that finding as to motive is preliminary and this police are still looking into
that. Back to you. All right, mark potter thank you very much. Its so heartbreaking. These three young beautiful kids who literally had their entire lives in front of them and successful. Senseless. Beautiful, beautiful kids. Were all sitting here stunned. I wonder what the Research Tells Us that the average american when they hear the word muslim comes back. Is this kind of builtin i guess nor rant hatred just for that word where we all know 99. 99, whatever it is. I wonder what the actual reality is in this country as far as ignorance to what the word muslim means because what we see on the news, the extremeist, the fundmentlists is obviously the obscured minuscule. How much hatred is underneath whats going on in this country now. I think you talk to most muslims who live in the United States and they tell you they get a bitter shake here and a
bitter chance here. Less prejudice here than anywhere else in the world. I dont think thats not an issue. Whats that . I think its a question. I think there is builtin hatreds that turn everything stinkts, wron what happened here but the question is there for a reason. Of course there are. You dont know it happened here. This could have been North Carolinas version of zimmerman, you know going around chasing around a guy because hes black and claiming he was just trying to protect the neighbor. Lady, this guy was just trying to protect these parks places but he happens to do it with three muslims students. One thing you have have to keep in mind with these horrible cases, the people under the perpetrators are all crazy to one degree or another. These are not balanced people ppts true theres a lot of bias against muslims and we shouldnt if you have bias against people the normal response is not to go out and kill execute three people in a parking lot. Especially two young women and once youre crazy, youre crazy. Anything is on the table. Thats the problem. I have to raise this. What the hell are people like this doing owning guns . Theres this debate going on but whether it was over parking or it was a hate crime, i would submit kit be both. Theyre not mutually exclusive. You can be angry about a pashing spot because of hate. We dont have facts yet. Its not an either or proposition proposition. Breaking news in europe where russian president Vladimir Putin announcing a ceasefire set to begin midnight on saturday in eastern ukraine. Talks ran for more than 15 hours with leaders of france and germany taking part with ukraine and russia. Fighting continued in the region today leading up to putins announcement. More than 5,000 people have died in the conflict since last april. Lets bring in nbc news chief global correspondent bill neely live from london. Bill, do we think its going to hold . Reporter well, thats the big question. And it is an agreement thats modeled on a ceasefire agreement from six months ago that frankly wasnt worth the paper its written on. And this is an amended version of that. These were extremely difficult negotiations according to the German Foreign ministry. Intense discomfort around this table as ukrainian president pairpar shank cowas face to face while putin continues to deny russias direct involvement in the fighting in eastern ukraine, much to the dismay of the german chancellor and french president. We have an agreement, a ceasefire thats to begin on midnight on the 15th. Heavy weapons apparently to be pulled back within two weeks. Now, you can already see room for disagreement wiggle room there. And German Foreign minister has said this is not a comprehensive solution. It is certainly not a
breakthrough. So the devil is in the detail. It remains to be seen in the next couple of weeks whether this deal, unlike the one in september, can stick. All right. Bill neely, thank you very much. Possible 2016 contender in Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has made his way to london. They all go to london now. But then they dont ask questions or answer questions. Its all bad. What do you mean . Yesterday he met with british chancellor and finance min store george osborne. Like Chris Christie who came just a week earlier walkers purpose was to talk about expanded trade and investment between wisconsin and the uk. The governor did something christie did not do on his trip the politics of Foreign Policy stop at the waters edge. He refrained from offering an opinion regarding the fight against isis and arming the ukrainian rebels. But he also punted as he put it on the question of evolution. Are you comfortable with the idea of evolution, do you agree
with it, do you accept it . For me im going to punt to that one as well. No. Really . Thats a question a politician shouldnt be involved in in one way or the other. Im going to leave utd up to you. Any british politician right or left wing, would love to say, yes, of course evolution is true. To me its just one of those where im near to talk about trade and not pontification. I love the ef evolution of trade and wisconsin and i would like to see a bigger evolution as well. Thank you very much. Clarified in a series of tweets writing, quote both science and my faith dictate my belief we are created by god. I believe faith and sigh wrens compatible and go hand in hand. Its unfortunate the media chose to politicize this issue during our trade mission to foster investment in wisconsin. Joining us from washington msnbc Political Correspondent kasie hunt. Kasie, that answer by scott walker, was like like a kasie
hunt question . I dont know. Kind of a gotcha in an innocent way . An innocent gotcha. Kasie, they keep going to london. They keep having these dustups. They do. In some ways scott walker overlearned the lesson of Chris Christies trip. He took it so far to refuse to answer that basically wasnt about wisconsin cheese which was the subject he was sort of there to do. But this one was interesting because its a question that comes up all the time in the rm primary process. And for somebody who is opening an office in iowa which scott walker is doing, you know, the last two people who won the last two republicans who won in iowa both were proponents of intelligent design. Rick santorum tried to amend the no child left be