i'm not sure. but she is next. i am bill o'reilly. please always remember the spin stops here. we're definitely looking out for good evening and welcome to a "the kelly file" special report on the coming war in the middle east. i'm megyn kelly. in the last couple of weeks president obama has spelled out his initial strategy for taking on the terror army known as isis. a plan involving what he calls a broad coalition of countries, a series of u.s. air strikes and support for fighters in both iraq and syria who are supposed to battle the terrorists on the ground. but what is getting the most attention is what the plan does not involve, a growing chorus of top military leaders asking why this president is ruling out the option of using american troops in combat. we are seeing headlines like the washington times report on how a

former commander says nixing u.s. ground troops damaging the international coalition. the daily beast asking can obama keep his generals in check in the war against isis. the final times writes, "obama's isolation deepens over isis as the support split over isis." while the pittsburgh post gazette says white house divided on use of troops against islamist state. "the washington post," skepticism of obama's plan. and you heard that right here on the program last night. press secretary josh earnest was asked about that last one this morning. and listen to his response. >> the president listens very carefully to the advice he gets from his military commanders. >> -- there's skepticism of the president's plan. >> the headline's wrong. all they do is misinterpret chairman dempsey's testimony. and the rest of the time they essentially they quote people who are either frequent critics

who supported the previous iraq conflict. so the more accurate headline would be supporters of the bush war in iraq criticizing president obama's strategy. >> mr. earnest says the president listens carefully to his military advisors but shared with us by retired four-star general jack keane. in 2009 president obama rejected a recommendation for a 40,000 strong force in afghanistan opting instead to set a withdrawal timetable over the next few years and the surge was much lower than the generals wanted. in 2010 he rejected a plan from four-star general david petraeus to extend the surge in that same country. just a year later he was offering a force of just 10,000 soldiers to the iraqis instead of the recommended 24,000 from advisors. this is the critical troop -- group of troops that was going to be left behind to fight isis and the growing terror in iraq that the president decided to leave no one. and in just the last year he rejected yet another recommendation for residual

forces in afghanistan. he had opposed any combat role for american soldiers in this terror war in iraq, either now or in the future despite advice again to the contrary. joining me again general jack keane, chairman of the institute for the study of war, former vice chief of staff for the army and fox news military analyst. general, good to see you tonight. i want to get to afghanistan because that's something that's being forgotten here. marc thiessen put, if you like what happened in iraq you're going to love what's about to happen in afghanistan. the question i have for you is whether you believe right now if he had listened, you know, because the white house says he's listening. he's just making his own independent decisions. if he had listened and acted as he was advised to do, do you believe we'd be in the mess we're in right now? >> no, i don't. in afghanistan and also in iraq. the fact of the matter is the initial recommendation from mccrystal and petraeus, they put

options on the table for a force in afghanistan. this was the right decision the president was making to escalate the war. and make a decision about that. but then the pattern began then in 2009 that we have seen for the succeeding five years and that is simply this, not to give them the resources. they recommended 80,000 no-risk 60,000 troops some risk, 40,000 minimum risk, essential no less force. he gave them 25% less 30,000. what did that do? and he was told this, it would protract the war, drive up the casualties. that is exactly what happened as a result of that. and then he pulled that force out after 11 or so months. we were never able to, megyn, put it in the east. we had success in the south. we were never able to put the force in the east. the haqqani network lives today, it's vibrant today in the eastern mountains. we were never able to root it out like we did with the taliban south and we're going to turn that country over with that

state of security affairs. when we left iraq it was stable. when we leave afghanistan, it's in trouble. >> he really seems to think he knows better. i mean, he ran for office promising to end those two wars. and then he got into office and got all sorts of access to information he didn't have prior. but it didn't change his views on it. he stuck to his guns about getting us out of there really no matter what the cost. and you hear even today his white house press secretary saying people like you who have been critical of his decisions, well, that's just because you happen to support the war in iraq so you got an agenda. >> well, i disagreed with bush's strategy in iraq. i think i made some contribution to help him turn it around. so i was a critic of the administration for some time. you know, what is really at the heart of this, i think secretary gates had it right. i reviewed his book for "the wall street journal" and i was struck by one of his comments. i can only paraphrase it here

now, but he said there's a fundamental -- on the part of the president, a fundamental mistrust of the military which leads to very poor decisions on his part. you know, the military needs oversight, megyn, like anybody does. we deserve to have our options challenged and vetted and pushed to be sure. but at the end of the day they don't -- the military doesn't have an agenda. it's just presenting options to try to succeed. its judgment may be off at times to be sure, but the fact of the matter they're well-intentioned judgments that are being presented. so you have different presidents who did challenge the military but also supported it with the resources they asked. this is ronald reagan, george bush -- george h.w. bush in gulf war one and post-9/11 george bush also. now we have a president that every single time -- and one we didn't mention is 2012 when panetta, clinton and petraeus recommended to arm and equip the

free syrian army, which initially had momentum in syria and then the russians and the iranians loaded in there with all of their equipment and troops and arrested it. and as a result of that the momentum shifted, the syrian army reached out for help and we said no and now we're in a dire situation in syria. the pattern is he does not trust that judgment. he limits every single time an option -- a serious option that's presented to him. i've never ever seen a pattern like that. i've never seen that kind of mistrust except when lincoln did not trust his generals in the beginning part of the civil war mainly because they were incompetent. and that is surely not the problem here. >> so what is going to happen now? because what the president's critics say is basically war based on pugh research. the american people want to do something about isis, but no boots on the ground, that's what the critics say he's doing. so we're about to go over there

with an air campaign that has not yet begun and no ground troops, no combat troops in no combat mission, which is what you and other generals believe we need to keep the door open for and should be forward operating special forces there. in any event, what's going to happen? because general maddiswas saying, just spoke out on this on thursday and said this is not the time for show of impotence in the middle east by america. >> that's ab shutsly right. i have the greatest respect for jim maddis, great soldier, tough commander and smart guy. the fact of the matter is here's what i do believe will happen. we're going to struggle with this coalition. why? because in all previous coalitions u.s. combat capability, troops, air power, hasn't been the centerpiece of the coalition that everybody gathers around america which is the centerpiece of it. that's not happening here. we're advertising to everybody that we're standing off, we're providing air power but we don't want troops on the ground.

>> we don't want to do it, we want them to do. we'll lead, we're not going to do it, but we want you to do it. >> that's not going to happen. they will not provide troops on the ground. they are so skiddish about what's happening here because they all have radical islamic movements inside their countries themselves. they are very concerned that the president pulling out of iraq, not executing the air strikes as a result of the chemical weapons red line being crossed will not see this through. they watch him. they understand what you and i just spoke about and that litany of rejection of military proposals. they know full well that he may not be serious here despite the rhetoric. so they're not going to be all in. they're going to be guarded because they know they'll take risks with their own internal radical islamic movement once they commit to do this. and if the outcome is not going to be a win, then they're not going to commit. so that's one thing. but the other thing that's going to happen, megyn, isis will

force our hand. i'm absolutely convinced of it. we will put forward air controllers and advisors down there because we will struggle. we will put direct action teams to go kill isis because -- will struggle in iraq and we will have combat ground brigades to deal with the failure because if we don't, we're going to lose. >> general keane, thank you. >> you're welcome, megyn. >> that's chilling. we mentioned how the president's critics are calling this a war conducted by public opinion pollers. up next, we'll show you exactly what those polls are saying. plus, while the islamic state terror group dominates the headlines, new warnings about another threat on the horizon that may be even more concerning when our special hour continues.

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after a week of controversy president obama outlined his strategy for the new terror war on the night before the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. and over the last week major outlets have taken the pulse of the nation. a pulse from "new york times" revealed that just over one in three americans approve of how the president has handled this terrorist group. and we saw "the wall street journal"/nbc poll show 68% lack confident. that same "new york times" poll showed a whopping 57% now say they are disappointed in the obama presidency. and to reinforce that our latest fox news polling shows that the president has a record low approval rating now for him of 38%. joining me now to discuss it chris stirewalt and kirsten powers. so let me pick up with you on this, kirsten, where i left off with general keane.

is it possible, is it possible that we are having a war in a foreign policy directed by the pugh research polling, the nbc, the "new york times" polling? >> it's possible. the thing about it is i do think the president was -- i said this before, he was slow to come around on this. but i also think that he is so keyed into what the american people think because he was elected to be the president who ends wars. and so he is -- >> as keeping a promise. >> exactly. and i think he's listening to them and knowing that that's what he was elected to do. and i'm not saying this is necessarily what he should be doing because i do think his job is ultimately to keep us safe and sometimes that's going to mean overruling the american people. but i think that's how he would defend it. he would say the american people elected me for a certain purpose and i'm trying to honor that. >> and how do you go to war without the support of the american people? if he questioned whether they supported him, how do you put a bunch of combat troops in if you

don't believe the american public are going to support it? they are the ones who ultimately will be delivering those troops, their sons and daughters. >> you sure don't tell them the truth about it. that's what this administration is trying to do is to -- >> you say he's doing it, just being dishonest about it. >> well, he's getting dragged in. they're bringing him in by his nose and the generals he's fighting with are saying no, no, no, you got to get in here and trying to find a way to make it more politically palatable. but what you're seeing as kt points out is resisting the idea because it cuts against nobel laureates. his plan -- it knocks a wing off his presidential museum. he doesn't like that part of it. but as he goes, and he struggles with that, he is not able to inspire the american people to say, hey, this is something we want to do. because if you go into it, if you crawfish into a war and you're not leveling with people, they're not as you say going to say my son or my daughter, my

commitment, my life. >> right. why would i put my child's life on the line or why would i put my own life on the line for a commander in chief who doesn't believe in the mission who's phoning it in or doing the bare minimum he thinks he needs to appease the polls. >> right. well, look, the american people aren't stupid. they also know that his story in terms of what he's doing doesn't entirely add up. i say this as somebody who doesn't support a lot of what he's doing like many democrats don't support what he's doing. if you're going to talk about the syrian rebels as we all talk about the way he was talking about them a few months ago -- >> the fantasy. >> right. actually, i think that was the correct view. and now turn around and say we're going to go in and basically help them now fight against isis even though the whole -- really what they're trying to do is fight assad, he just hasn't done a good job explaining what's changed. >> how is that because the public opinion polling seems to support so much we do something about isis. not necessarily boots on the ground. how is the left -- now that you're the spokesperson for the left, how are they viewing this?

because it's another war in the middle east with, you know, these radical islamists who hate each other and killing each other. and now we're getting in the middle of it. and seems like the drum beat against that isn't as loud as it was in the past. >> i think they're very different situations. you got to remember there's two things, the air strikes in iraq which are one thing which has a lot of support. and then the arming of the rebels in syria which has a lot less support. and because they are two entirely different situations. look, the left overall is unhappy. and then there's democrats. and you do see it sort of splitting along this hawkish and sort of elizabeth warren types are on different sides of this. so polls are showing democrats overwhelmingly supporting the air strikes. if we start talking about sending troops in then thing we're going to see something entirely different. they don't want us to go back to war. >> how is it -- is it either you believe in the mission that we need to go fight them or you don't or can you fight what's been called the half-pregnant

war? >> well, it has no name. maybe that will catch on. when you have a poll that says that americans support the president's plan but also don't think it will work, that's a bad moment. >> general keane just said we're going to lose. >> that's a bad moment that people say i want you to do this, but i don't think it's going to work out. and it points to a terrible moment -- and it's for the country. it's not just for an administration, it's not just for a president. it's for a country. when the people don't believe their commander in chief. and we saw it in libya, we saw it in afghanistan. he made comments about what he was going to do in libya and afghanistan. both those situations are dire. and we're starting it again. and he's not selling it. he's not being forthright. he got elected because he was talking to americans like adults. and he said i'm going to level with you about things. now we're using fake terminology. >> he lost his credibility a long time ago according to the polls. you're going to stir the hornet's nest, you're going to stick that stick in the hornet's nest and stir it up.

you better destroy it. there better be no more hornets left. and the concern is he's just stirring it up. we're going to run a little bit and then they're going to get us. thank you. see you both. another top member of the administration is now insisting that this terror group islamic state is neither islamic nor a state. up next why that argument matters in the coming war in the middle east. >> let's make two things clear, isil is not islamic. no religion condones the killing of innocence. the vast majority of isil's victims have been muslims. isil is a terrorist organization. [ female announcer ] you change your style. why not your eye color? new air optix® colors prescription contact lenses enhance your eye color for a naturally beautiful look with consistent comfort. find your perfect color and get a free trial offer at airoptixcolors.com.

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the islamic state, they can call themselves obviously what they want to call themselves. we shouldn't compound the sin by allowing them to get away with it and calling them what they're not. they're not a state. and they do not represent islam. >> secretary of state john kerry testifying before congress on the white house plan to defeat the terror army in iraq and syria. mr. kerry going out of his way to make a distinction between the terrorists and islam, something the administration has done repeatedly of late. watch this. >> now, let's make two things clear. isil is not islamic. no religion condones the killing of innocents. >> despite its slick public media and self-proclamation to be the islamic state of iraq, isil is neither islamic nor is it a state. >> this organization describing itself as the islamic state is a bit of a misnomer.

they are not islamic. no religion condones the killing or terrorizing of innocent individuals. certainly not the religion of islam. >> muslims of the world know that what isil represents. in no way is what their religion or what their ethnicity, what their background represents. >> joining me now dr. jasser, founder and president of the american forum for democracy, a former commander in the u.s. navy and author of "a battle for the soul of islam." american-muslim's patriot's fight to save his faith. are they right? >> absolutely not. and please if anybody in the administration is listening, stop telling us muslims what is islamic. so he's saying this is compounding the sin? how about when he shakes and hugs the king of saudi arabia

for they're being the custodians of the holy mosque but they have imprisoned liberal -- or the islamic republic of iraq. hundreds of millions of muslims running governments all over the world that line their prisons and torture christians and jews and muslims and that's islamic and isis came out of thin air? isis is a by-product of those ideologies. and to deny it and dismiss it, they're trying to bury us reformers from having a seat at the table. >> they seem to be saying if you allow them to be islamic, to have that label, that you're legitimizing them. that you are conceding that what they're doing is accepted in some under the umbrella somehow of islam. >> well, the legitimacy, yeah, that might be the argument that we would make as reformers that we need to take back the mantle of islam, we need to separate mosque and state and not only

condemn the islamic state but all islamic states no different than the american revolution condemns -- but if we're going to have that conversation, megyn, we have to get to the first step of the 12 steps which is past denial and say, you know, we muslims have a major problem globally and we have to own it. i can't own it as a muslim if secretary -- the secretary of islamic apologetic now with our secretary of state too busy enabling the islamic thee krits of the world saying this terror group is not islamic but the ideas that created them, we'll ignore them and hug the king of saudi arabia in the meantime. >> let me ask you. we see so many people and i admit i've had them on the program from cair and seem to have a message that's very controversial and seem to be connected to hamas. talk to us about moderate islam

and moderate muslims and where they are on this. >> well, their entire operation and their lobbying organization fueled by the organization of islamic cooperation is to snuff out our voice in the west because the main laboratory that we can do our reform work against sharian government and this draconian law that's still in the 13th century is in the west. so if the west is too busy being labeled as anti-muslim bigots and we're all anti-muslims, you can never have this conversation. so moderate muslims acknowledge that the islamic state is a threat. that we don't want to live in islamic state. modern muslims acknowledge that anti-western, anti-freedom and the islamists want to not have that conversation and want to marginalize us from the mosque and representation in our voices. >> i don't know. whenever i hear the administration officials telling me that the islamic state is neither islamic nor a state, i think of this. >> now i'm a little fa clemt.

talk amongst yourselves. i'll give you a topic. transitional roman architectures neither transitional nor romanesque. discuss. >> neither islamic nor a state. discuss. i'll give you the last word. >> i wish that was funny, but the sad thing is all the free thinking muslims in the world ta are in jail under islamic republics are crying when they hear the secretary of state enable continued theocracy. we have to start to take sides. >> man, way to bring the room down. >> sorry. >> anyway, still good to see you. valid point. good to see you. >> thanks, megyn. well, 12 years ago at this point president bush was starting to roll out the argument for military action in iraq. just ahead, we'll look at the media coverage then versus the media coverage of president

obama's war now. plus, as the president struggles to build a coalition to take on the islamic army, there are reports of a new and dangerous terror threat on the rise separate from isis just ahead. >> no longer necessary to actually meet somebody in al qaeda to get training and inspiration to conduct a terrorist attack here in the united states. united states. someone ca you know what my business philosophy is, reynolds? no. not exactly. to attain success, one must project success. that's why we use fedex one rate.

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this is a fox news alert. he is accused in a state shooting in police officer barracks we're told police have a house

surrounded close to where he lived with his parents. he's considered heavily armed and dangerous. and some tense moments at the white house. a fence jumper forced the secret service to evacuate part of the west weng wing. this incident happening shortly after president obama and his daughters left for camp david on board marine 1. "the cell eye files" is next. h foxnews.com. the department of homeland security is recent warnings for jihad for would-be terrorists living inside the united states. this after an intelligence bulletin warning that radical islamic extremists are encouraging extremists to murder american military personnels at their homes. trace gallagher has the latest

details. trace. >> megyn, the department of homeland security tells "the kelly file" there is no credible evidence right now of an active plot involving home grown terrorists. but the information in this law enforcement bulletin is based on credible sources and an increase in internet chatter leading authorities to believe isis and like-minded terror groups will stop telling radicalized young americans to come join the fight in the middle east and instead encourage them to stay home and attack u.s. military personnel. the bulletin warns of spontaneous ambush-style attacks similar to the may 2013 machete attack on a british soldier by two british citizens who then explained the attack to a witness. watch. >> an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. i apologize women had to witness this today. but in our land our women have to see the same. >> notice the hatchet and blood on his hands. the bulletin goes on citing twitter post encouraging jihadists to use social media to

find service members names and addresses and "show up and slaughter them." another post says "why kill just one when you can follow general nadal hassan's path" while major nadal hassan opened fire killing 13. and the country's biggest terror raids in history arresting more than a dozen suspects accused of planning to attack and behead random citizens on behalf of isis. and u.s. government sources now tell fox news that battle-hardened fighters from afghanistan, pakistan and yemen are in syria working with the al qaeda affiliate. among those fighters are ones trained by the mastermind of the 2009 underwear bomb plot. their new goal, to build nonmetallic explosives to blow up planes in the united states and in western europe. megyn. >> trace, thank you.

turning now buck sexton, a former cia officer who served in iraq, a former nypd intelligence specialist and national security editor at the blaze. also tara, a former cia military analyst who focused on the terrorist insurgency in iraq during the iraq war. thank you both so much for being here. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> i mean, it's like i'm trying to keep it straight. so now isis is calling for murdering american military personnel in their beds. in australia they get caught in the middle of this big plan to actually just start beheading people in the middle of the street. in the meantime the group that you've been focused on, buck, that you've been waving your arms about saying don't forget about these guys are trying to come up with an explosive that can't be detected on u.s. airplanes. which of these threats should we be most concerned about? >> megyn, we have to be concerned about all of them because they're very real threats. i think the idea that was floated around in some policy circles and in the media that

somehow the islamic state wouldn't become a threat to the united states has now finally faded away because of what we've seen in australia but also because of the pronouncement and from what we see from this new group people are talking about which comes from the al qaeda pakistan area training with master bombmaker from al qaeda in the arabian peninsula specifically to attack western targets specifically explains they're setting up an external operations arm specifically to strike at the west. there are even reports that in order to take sort of the mantle of jihadist leadership inside of syria wants to set up a training camp specifically for westerners where they can also then bring in those bomb making skills to hit us outside of syria. this is explicitly what they're trying to do and the plots are ongoing. >> tara, some would say this is exactly against what we're -- because so many people who hate us in so many parts of the world. pakistan, afghanistan, iraq, syria, we could go on. so even if we bomb isis in iraq

and syria, still going to have al nusra in pakistan. how are we going to eradicate this terror threat? >> to follow-up on what buck was saying, i don't want to downplay about the recent reports about a attacks over the last few days but you know there's a range of credibility associated with different types of reports. you can't treat a social media or a posti without signals intelligence, without imagery intelligence, without all the types of intelligence that analysts use to assess the credibility of the threat. so while the australia plot had intercepted communications and there was clear evidence of something actually going on, i don't want to jump the gun on the other plots. we don't see the reports behind the scenes. you can't overreact to every jihadist posting -- >> i'm not sure what the overreaction would be if we're trying to prepare for the possibility when you have jihadists who are saying they in fact want to hit us, setting up special units to do this and open about it. you know as well as i do

jihadist chatter actually matters. it's a means of communication -- >> i agree. but there's a difference between chatter and in some cases noise that might actually obscure the real and credible threats or the actionable intelligence. until there's actionable intelligence or specific threat -- >> it seems to agree the threat is higher. >> but let me ask you this, some people have suggested that isis is trying to woo us into this war. only builds their profile and look like a giant if they can fight the superpower, the united states of america. many people believe that's what osama bin laden was trying to do with 9/11 as well and that we took the bait. do you believe that might be happening here, buck? >> well, that's a theory many people often hold to, but it was really proven wrong in iraq by the surge when you had the iraqi awakening, sunni arabs turn to al qaeda in iraq. and they were effectively degraded to borrow a term from president obama. as we see now they were not destroyed. but the idea america can't in any circumstance actually

prevail over these groups is i think a very pernicious fallacy and really important also to keep in mind that the fighting against terrorism is not the cause of it. these individuals would be fighting us no matter what our policies were, no matter what we did in the middle east or the rest of the world for that matter. they'll look to historical grievances. >> that's where it is. that's what i want to get to, tara. when isis was beheading our american journalists, they say we wouldn't have done this if you hadn't dropped those bombs in iraq. does anybody believe that? it's in them. they are raised on a diet of hate for america. >> i'm not disagreeing. obviously a lot of what they say and how they respond to american actions and policies are for propaganda purposes. i'm not disagreeing with you there. to pick up on buck's plan the whole distinction about degrading or destroying, at the end of the day realistically speaking you need the capabilities and leadership and the aspirations of the group. you might not be able to eliminate them fully, but you need to degrade them to a point

where they do not pose an imminent and severe threat. prime minister of australia said the other day if someone has the will to kill, i believe he said, and a knife, they can cause hafk with a terrorist attack. ask a teenager with a school shooting, unfortunately that is objective reality and that is case. whether or not we're going to be able to eliminate every individual who may have that sort of will to do that type of attack, those are the attacks i'm more worried about. >> the authorities have been saying for years the attacks they're most worried about are the lone wolves, the domestic lone wolf threats. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> thank you. while it hasn't seen much attention, the vatican has weighed in on the coming war with isis on and a remarkable statement on what this could represent. and 12 years ago at this point president bush rolling out the military argument for argument in iraq. the media coverage back then versus the media coverage today. >> what went wrong that so many governments and peoples around

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bullied. >> what went wrong that so many governments and peoples around the world now not only disagree with you very strongly but see the u.s. under your leadership as an arrogant house? >> that was almost 12 years ago now. the winter of 2003, and the media was pressing hard on the bush administration right before the eve of the iraq war. so how are those same media outlets covering president obama as we get ready to do battle with this terror army in the middle east? the president of the media research center, they track these kinds of things. brent, different tone now? >> completely different. you know, looking back on it i think it's fair to say that the media's attitude toward president obama now is one of befuddlement and concern. they're seeing all sorts of problems that they think he's facing around the world.

twelve years ago the attitude was purely entirely adversarial. he wasn't facing problems, then george bush was causing problems all over the world. and those two clips you showed were an indication of that. so leading up to the gulf war in 2006 -- or 2005 -- whatever year it was. the attitude of the media was that this was not a coalition that this man was putting together. this was in fact -- >> why can't that just be explained by the fact that the iraq war then, thereafter and still today was very controversial and our reasons for doing it very controversial. and today we're faced with a different enemy, under different circumstances, and so why should the reporting be exactly the same? >> well, they should be the same because facts are facts. and if you're going to say that george bush did not have a coalition of the willing as he said that he did, then you've got to have the same standard with president obama. it's as simple as that. george bush, you know, they've

pointed out that george bush only had four other nations willing to put boots on the ground. president obama has nobody. has no other nation willing to do it. so where's the coverage over the fact that this man is incapable apparently so far of putting together a coalition? >> some have covered it. but your point is it hasn'tgcby gotten the same attention as it did when it was president bush in the white house. let me show you this because apparently now this is your group, the network evening news reports on presidential approval, and president obama's is at an all-time low right now, between january and august of this year there have been nine network news reports on president obama's sinking poll numbers -- approval ratings. look at t number for president bush. this is from you guys. 124 reports during the same period of 2006. 124 to nine, brent, what does it tell us? >> well, let's carve it down a little bit more. if you look at just -- not just all the policies, just obama's approval rating versus bush's approval rating, just that

alone. in 2006 it was this nonstop narrative on george bush on how the wheels were coming off his presidency. it's undeniable. there were 52 network news stories devoted to that. okay. the wheels are coming off the obama administration. how many stories have there been this year? two, 52 versus two. this is not any semblance of objectivity. this is a media out to get george bush and are out to defend barack obama. >> wow. those numbers are pretty stark. brent, great to see you. >> thank you, megyn. up next, what does it mean when the vatican is arguing that force against the islamic state is justified? how bad do you have to be to have the pope wanting you to get bombed?

what does it suggest that pope francis seems to be siding with the use force. the author of the new book the way of serenity, which is already shooting to the top of the best seller list. >> thanks, megyn. >> what is he saying exactly? >> well, first of all, it's so surprising that pope francis would be the one to really bring together the international community before president obama was doing anything quite honestly and saying go and stop this. >> right. >> because pope francis, i mean, he is a very gentle soul. >> right. >> but when nobody was doing anything he says it is -- it is justified to stop an unjust aggressor. and not only that it is a responsibility of the political

community to do so. >> he also said this is world war iii. he believes this is world war iii. >> he is offscript, which is so refreshing honestly. >> you've been in that place yourself. >> i've said so many things i'll be in trouble for the rest of my life. but he goes off script and recognized as one who speaks from the heart. he's able to then bring together this coalition. now, he's not saying go to war. >> right. and he said i didn't say bomb, i said stop them. that's going to require some bombing. >> well, how do you stop a terrorist? you don't get together and sit down and have coffee with them. >> right. can't have an oprah moment. >> probably not. although i do believe in miracles. >> speaking of which, so your book this is what cardinal dolan wrote about it, it helps show how we can begin to discuss god's will in our lives. so for people who feel lost or who feel disconnected. >> thanks, megyn. you know, it's that serenity

prayer. it's all about the serenity prayer and it's about learning to accept things that we can't change. it's about learning to get courage to do the things we can and then discernment. that's what i think cardinal dolan was saying. it's discerning. there's lots of good ways to go, what's the best way? i hope i've walked people through a way that's going to bring peace and happiness and joy to your lives. i needed it as much as anybody who i think might be reading it today. >> well, you brought that. i can speak on a personal level to the lives of me and my family. >> thanks, megyn. >> you baptized all three of my children. there will be no more. so thank you and great job. >> need to discern that. maybe god wants more. just kidding. i'll talk to doug about that. he's got a great book by the way. >> thank you very much. as do you. all the best. chico's leggings. every style's a showstopper! with fabrics that flatter and prints to go wild for. legs look longer, you look leaner. any way you wear them. chico's leggings. we're famous for our legs. at chico's and chicos.com.

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they are now back in turkey after being released early this morning. hannity is next. anks for watchi. i'm megyn kelly. this is "the kelly file." welcome to "hannity." tonight for the entire hour i'll be joined by a lively and distinguished audience for a "hannity" conversation targeting the nfl.