Is the White House underestimating global threats?

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," August 8, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: This is a FOX News alert.

Hello, everyone. I'm Eric Bolling. This is "The Five."

A U.S. military operation is under way in Iraq as America targets the Islamic terror group ISIS attempting ethnic genocide to create an Islamic state. Tens of thousands of Christians are trapped without food and water in the northern mountains after trying to flee the jihadists. U.S. fighters have been pounding ISIS artillery with airstrikes, dropping 500-pound bombs.

We have team FOX coverage tonight. Doug McKelway is at the Pentagon. Ed Henry is at the White House.

But we begin with "McClatchy" reporter Mitchell Prothero who's on the ground in Irbil, Iraq, with the very latest -- Mitchell.

MITCHELL PROTHERO, MCCLATCHY REPORTER (via telephone): Alarming news continues to come out of northern Iraq, where as many as 40,000 members of Yazidi sect, a combination of Islam and ancient Persian traditions fled to the mountains (INAUDIBLE) taken to the city of Sinjar, pursued by militant radicals from the Islamic State.

American supply planes dropped food, stuff and water into them last night but apparently it was only enough to serve about 8,000 people and the Iraqi spokesman for human rights ministry today came out and said hundreds of women from that village and area have been kidnapped and possibly taken as wives by the militant group that was once associated with al Qaeda.

And in the Kurdish capital of Irbil, the siege is somewhat continuing as U.S. strikes continued to hit Islamic State artillery positions which have been returning fire at the Kurdish Peshmerga forces that are keeping them out of the capital of Irbil. The situation in Irbil is increasingly tense as tens of thousands of refugees have flooded into the city center and are erecting makeshift camps all over the construction sites, public parks and is slowly turning into a humanitarian disaster here in the capital as well.

BOLLING: All right. Mitchell, be safe.

ISIS militants are pointing their guns at Americans now. Listen to Abu Moussa (ph), an ISIS spokesman, say they won't stop until an ISIS flag flies atop the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, VICE NEWS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I say to America, that the Islamic Caliphate has been established. And we will not stop. Don't be cowards and attack us with drones. Instead send your soldiers, the ones we humiliated in Iraq. We will humiliate them everywhere, God willing, and we will raise the flag of Allah in the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: We turn now to the Pentagon, Doug McKelway.

Can you tell us more? Bring us up to speed, Doug. What's the very latest?

DOUG MCKELWAY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I think the key thing is to really trying to understand more about ISIS, where they've come from, what they're doing, what their aspirations are. I just finished doing an interview a little while ago for my "SPECIAL REPORT" piece was going to air later today with Colonel Eric Harvey. He's formerly with the defense intelligence agency. Highly respected -- his opinion is highly respected.

He describes ISIS as infinitely more powerful, infinitely more dangerous than al Qaeda and we're not just talking about the abduction of these Yazidi women which we learned today, confirmed by the Iraqi government. I'm not just talking about these mass beheadings which is what they want to take in as a fear tactic.

The key to ISIS is that they have a very strong organizational structure, Eric, all the way from al-Baghdadi, down to the military organization. They learned how to fight very well in Syria. They've been fighting for a couple of years now in Syria. They can shoot straight. You might remember those anecdotal reports during the earlier days of the urgency in Iraq where U.S. soldiers said, boy, I sure am glad that these guys can't shoot.

Well, ISIS soldiers can shoot. Beyond that, they have a lot of money. They've robbed banks. They have a lot of cash. They're knocking on the door right now of some of Iraq's biggest oil fields. They control the dam, which serves very little offensive purposes. I mean, they needed electricity as much as the next guy. But if they were to be removed, they could unleash that dam and create all kinds of havoc.

In addition to that, ISIS has initiatives under way for planning and development for attacks on Western European cities and in the United States. It says it does not create much skill to create havoc in the American cities and American economy. We saw that with 9/11. It says they have more power and more wherewithal than al Qaeda every dreamed of having.

So, that's it for you, Eric, kind of frightening.

BOLLING: All right. Thank you, Doug.

Let's bring in White House correspondent now, Ed Henry.

Ed, so, we're hearing about these 500-pound bombs. I believe we've had two raids so far. We need to expect this to go on further through the night, through the weekend. Any indication how long?

ED HENRY, FOX NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The indication right now is that it might be slowing down at least for a bit because we just got word from the White House that they have what they call a lid around here, which means the president is not going to make any news, not going to come out and make any sort of on camera statement like he did last night which telegraphed that the humanitarian mission was underway and the airstrike were on the way, those two rounds of them, as you noted. They came in today.

So, that would -- you would expect that the president is not moving forward in the next few hours. But over the weekend anything can happen because what White House aides tell us is that the president's authorization to the U.S. military was open-ended in the sense that he's saying, if two conditions, one of two conditions are met, they can move forward with more airstrikes in the field. One being if -- dealing with the humanitarian mission. If there's some sense that those up to 40,000 people on the mountain, that the water and food is being dropped to them is not enough and that maybe the ISIS militants are moving on them, then there can be air strikes in that region.

Meanwhile, over in Irbil, that key city where we have a U.S. consulate, this administration burned by the Benghazi situation, they don't want to see another spate of violence there. A lot of U.S. personnel on the group. That's where the focus of airstrikes have been so far. They want to make sure they push back on the ISIS militants there and keep Americans out of harm's way.

I think the bottom line is in the short term, the president is getting some credit from Democrats and Republicans like John Boehner, the speaker, for the airstrikes and humanitarian mission, saying, look, this is a tightly focused mission in the short term. Where he's facing criticism is the medium to long term, which is that Josh Earnest asked over and over, what is the strategy to deal with ISIS long term. And they don't appear to have one in terms of making sure ISIS doesn't take up more territory in Iraq, Syria, and potentially in Jordan.

And so, in the short term, they're getting some high mark. The question now moving forward is going to be, what are they doing to stop ISIS long term because they've been picking up a lot of steam, as you know, Eric.

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Hey, Ed. It's Dana.

A couple of questions that are PR related. One, was why was the Pentagon seemingly so behind reporters who are absolutely confirming that we were doing airstrikes, and then to come on later on, it's just curious to me if they weren't talking to one another or if they were just trying to buy some time to make sure that people on the ground, our assets, were protected for when those strikes were going to hit.

HENRY: Well, you've been --

PERINO: The second question I have is, why in the world did the president even feel like he had to go out and do a statement last night at 9:30 p.m.? Why not just say, yes, and confirm -- yes, of course, we dropped humanitarian aid, it's the least we can do, and we have the authority to do it, case closed? Why did they have to make such a big show out of it and end up with the headlines they had today?

HENRY: Well, it was a relatively brief statement. I mean, I think it was about 15 minutes. It wasn't a 45-minute --

PERINO: No, but it was dramatic and that he comes out at 9:30 at night to make a statement on something that he could have just said, yes, of course, I'm doing this.

HENRY: Well, I think that you've been through this before. Any time troops are put in harm's way at all, in this case, you know, we don't want to minimize while there are not combat boots on the ground, you still have planes in the air and American military personnel in harm's way. They wanted the president to wait until those planes were out of Iraqi airspace. That was owing to why it was at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time last night.

In terms of why Pentagon appeared to be behind and reporters were confirming it, the Pentagon was trying to wait until those planes were out of harm's way. And my understanding is the White House was not too happy about some of the leaks confirming that the mission was underway. They wanted to make sure our personnel were out of harm's way.

PERINO: No, I can understand that. My point is that I don't think he needed to ask permission. And I think that they had the authority to do it and it was unnecessary for them to make a big show out of it, and say, of course, we're going to protect our people and, of course, we're going to do humanitarian aid.

And I'll let my colleagues talk.

HENRY: Well, he was under great pressure. And, you know, there are protesters here at the White House, you had folks in the Iraqi parliament saying isn't the U.S. doing more. Maybe he felt compelled to speak out.

BOB BECKEL, CO-HOST: Hey, Ed, this is Bob. I wonder, though, how do they answer the question, the request for this action was a month ago, a month and a half ago when the Iraqi government asked the United States to intercede as ISIS was moving across the country. How do they answer the question, why now and why not then?

HENRY: I think a clear distinction to be made, which is that a month ago when Maliki, the prime minister, was demanding U.S. help. His government in shambles, number one. And number two, it wasn't clear that, you know, that we had the clear intelligence of where to target ISIS.

In this case now, fast forward a month, you had the humanitarian disaster that we're on the verge of. You had a possible genocide in this - - atop this mountain in northern Iraq. And so, that's a justification. There may be criticism out there but inside the White House, they feel like, look, the president was compelled to act. You heard him last night say, that America can't turn a blind eye, whether you've got a Democratic or Republican president, if there's about to be a genocide, you've got to step in.

And that's why he did it last night and today.

However, that does open him up to criticism and they faced it in the White House briefing today. If you're worried about people being slaughtered there, why is it over 170,000 have been slaughtered in Syria, and we haven't had airstrikes there?

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Hey, Ed. It's Gutfeld.

So we've heard about the organization strategy, the fact that they have lots of cash, stolen military machinery, they can shoot straight. But we were talking about this before the show started. We have no idea what the numbers are. And if they're a small band of people, are they large? Are they in the tens of thousands? How many are there?

HENRY: I don't know the number and I think you're right, that that's a fair question to ask that ISIS seems to be picking up ground inside Iraq, inside Syria, and then, also the president was on the phone with King Abdullah of Jordan because the king is worried that their next move is to go into Jordan.

So, that would suggest they've got thousands and thousands of militants. I don't have a precise number. But also, there's also potentially a disconnect in that the White House was telling us today, well, you know, there's a difference between al Qaeda and ISIS because al Qaeda was trying to launch attacks against the American homeland, they are more dangerous.

Well, if you listen to what Secretary of State John Kerry was saying today at a news conference, he was saying they're a threat to the region right now, ISIS, but in the long term, he thinks, the secretary of state, that they're a threat to the United States. And so, that suggests that, you know, regardless of what the number is, they're a threat to the United States according to the secretary of state.

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Well, why did they get this bad, Ed? It's Kimberly. Why did they allow it to get to this point if they had the intelligence? And the information coming in from the field? Now, they're saying, oh, out of humanitarian concerns, they're compelled to ask.

If ISIS is varsity and al Qaeda is jayvee now, why are we in this position?

HENRY: Yes, I think that's a fair question because the White House answer so far has been that it's really not the president's fault. It's Prime Minister Maliki and the Iraqi government, their failures to create an inclusive government, according to the White House is what got us to this point. But as you say, a month, six weeks ago, the president came out in a couple of occasions here at and said this ISIS situation is a growing threat, we're on top of it, we're waging U.S. air strikes. That's several weeks ago and didn't do anything.

Now, look. It's easy to second-guess from here, an arm-chair general, that maybe we should have done airstrikes weeks ago. We don't have all the intelligence on our hands. We don't know all the facts on the ground. But the fact is, this is something that's been on the U.S. radar for some time and it was only this week that there was a potential humanitarian disaster that the U.S. intervened, perhaps they could have intervened sooner.

BOLLING: So, Ed, we rolled a little video of an ISIS -- we don't know if he's a militant, or commander or what, saying we won't rest until the ISIS flag flies above the White House. For a lot of people who are watching, maybe that's a game-changer, maybe they're saying, well, it may not by our fight. They're bringing it to us.

Is there any response from the D.C. lawmakers, Obama, the administration, with this new news that they're now targeting America, the White House?

HENRY: Yes. Well, look. I asked Josh Earnest about that very quote you just mentioned from the documentary I think from Vice TV, and Josh Earnest sort of pushed back on it by saying essentially that ISIS may have aspirational goals of launching attacks here on the American homeland but he drew a distinction between ISIS sort of talking trash and not being able to deliver on American homeland, as opposed to al Qaeda I said, which -- you know, talks that game but then backs it up by trying and sometimes succeeding with launching attacks like, 9/11.

Bottom line is they believe inside the White House, ISIS is still only aspirational, only hopes that they could launch attacks here.

But like I said, don't take it from the president's critics. Take it from his own secretary of state, John Kerry, who at a news conference today said today that ISIS is a growing threat and a threat that could be a national security threat to the United States. So, that's serious.

BECKEL: And two administrations now, we've spent billions of dollar training the Iraqi military and the Kurds were supposed to be a pretty strong military. And yet they're folding -- let's assume there's 10,000 or 15,000. The Iraqi military is up to 75,000. The Kurds are even beyond that.

Why is it that they are getting rolled over so easily if we were supposed to have trained them so well?

HENRY: Good question, because we've spent a lot of blood and treasure to do that, and it doesn't look like they're up to the job. I make two quick points. One is, the fact -- I pressed Josh Earnest on, well, what are we doing to stop ISIS? And he told me repeatedly it's up to the Iraqi government, the Iraqi and Kurd forces to take the lead on this.

As you just laid out, Bob, can you take the lead on that or much of anything? I'm not so sure.

Number two, what does this mean for the situation in Afghanistan? You know, you can fight it out whether the president should have left some forces behind in Iraq, was it Maliki's fault for not signing a status of forces agreement, but the bottom line is we pulled out all of our troops and in 2011, this president said we're leaving behind a stable Iraq. And three years later, that's not true.

We're about to pull out most, not all but most of our troops by the end of this year in Afghanistan. What is Afghanistan going to look like in three years? You look at the pictures from Iraq right now, it's pretty scary.

PERINO: Can I add something? I'm going to add a number three, which is a follow on to the last point you just made, which is that a lot of people, if they suggested that the president of the United States should not have said to Iraqis, you know, here -- telegraph the date certain when we said we were leaving because we said, well, because terrorists will wait and they will regroup and they will come back stronger.

That's why I think the military melted away, because they knew that we weren't going to be there years ago. This has been in the works. This is not something that happened in the last six weeks.

The last thing I want to ask you, Ed, is, do you notice a pattern in the White House talking points about our opponents? They say that Assad was weak. They say that Putin was weak. They said that al Qaeda is weak and yet they're being proven wrong over and over.

At some point, do they break the pattern and recognize that maybe it's their words that are not fulfilling what they're talking about in the Situation Room?

HENRY: It's a good question because in the Putin example, for example -- you know, to the point is that we keep hearing from the White House he's never been more isolated and meanwhile he's got more than 20,000 Russian troops amassing again at the border. This week, he thumbed his nose at the United States by extending Edward Snowden's stay inside Russia for three more years. And so, you're raising a fair question that I'm not sure there's an easy answer for the White House to give, because they continue to suggest that their foes like Putin are weak and yet Putin continues to thumb his nose.

GUTFELD: Hey, Ed, these little insurgencies are common in this area for century, but there are signs that they're already in the West. Am I right? That they are -- they have caused -- they've killed people in the West already, right?

HENRY: Sure. I'm not sure that we can say that ISIS has been as successful as say al Qaeda in the west in terms of launching attacks but they have been picking up steam, no doubt.

GUIFOYLE: Ed, it's Kimberly. I have a question for you. I have received information that a request was submitted for an export license to the state for the Kurdish provisional government to get 3,000 carbines and 5 million rounds of ammunition. This is back on July 24th. United States government denied that request when the Kurds were trying to do their level best in a timely fashion to defend themselves so we wouldn't be in the situation we find ourselves in today.

What is the government's answer and explanation for that denial, which would have proved to be very fruitful and helpful to the Kurds in defeating ISIS?

HENRY: Sure, that's a difficult question, because you're certainly right, that on the one hand, if you start arming the Kurds, they obviously could defend themselves better perhaps. But if you look at the example of Ukraine as well, where this president has been under pressure to arm the Ukrainians, there's been a fear that the Ukrainians don't have a strong enough military to push back on the Russians and we'll lose those arms to the separatists and those weapons will just be used against the Ukrainians.

Same deal in Syria. There's a great pressure on the president. He can second guess it. Maybe he should have armed them much sooner. But there was a fear that Assad was going to get those weapons.

Look what's happening in Iraq. Some of the weapons that we left behind and gave or sold to the Iraqi government are now being used and have gotten in the hands of these militants.

And so, yes, there is potential that if you arm the Kurds, that could help them defend themselves. On the other hands, could some of those weapons wind up in the hands of the militants who then use those weapons against these poor defenseless Christians and other minorities who are sitting there on the mountain? That's a difficult question.

BOLLING: All right. We have to leave it there.

Ed, thank you very much. Thanks a lot.

HENRY: Great to see you.

BOLLING: Next, how the Obama administration gravely underestimated the threat of ISIS. Is it too late now to stop the terror network?

But before we go, a programming note. Tonight, you can see more of us. Tune in for another live hour of "The Five" at 8:00 p.m.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As ISIL has marched across Iraq, it has waged a ruthless campaign against innocent Iraqis. Today, America is coming to help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: President Obama addressed the dire threat of ISIS in Iraq yesterday, but he hasn't always taken a strong stand against the terror network. In January, the president dismissed ISIS as a, quote, "jayvee team," saying, "The analogy, excuse me, we used around here sometimes is, if a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniform, that doesn't make them Kobe Bryant."

In June, the president made this declaration about terror in general.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: The world is less violent than it has ever been.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: And just last month, the spokesman said America has made the world a more tranquil place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think that there have been a number of situations in which you've seen this administration intervene in a meaningful way that has substantially furthered American interests and substantially improved the -- you know, the tranquility of the global community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Is the administration behind on global threats? Karl Rove thinks so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARL ROVE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: The administration has been behind the eight ball since the beginning of this thing. That's because this president does not have a strategic view of what America's interests very are or a view strategically of what America ought to do in order to aid its allies and friends and confront its enemies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Bob, I want to start with you. Would the left having really given President Obama such hard time if he had done airstrikes in Syria or if he had kept troops in Iraq longer without a date certain? Would the left have really have been that bothered?

BECKEL: I don't think so. I'll tell you for a couple of reasons. One, particularly in light of this horrible, horrible refugee problem, you know, we talk about it now in the mountains of Kurdistan -- the Kurds, but in Jordan, I think you said half the population now is refugees from Syria.

PERINO: Double their population.

BECKEL: And so, you've got this outrageous situation going on neither the United States or its allies, frankly have been very good in trying to alleviate the burden on Jordan, I don't know how close ISIS is to Jordan, but it seems to me it would be a lot easier for them in Jordan than it is where they're going now. The Jordanians are under enormous pressure.

So, I don't think the left would have had a problem with it, I don't think they would have, the left, because seeing this humanitarian crisis play out, the question is, you know, when you listen to Karl Rove talk about -- I don't think anybody had a strategy for this. I mean, you know, talking --

PERINO: Why?

BECKEL: -- about being a Monday morning general. Well, what is a strategy? The strategy is to try to stop these guys, I assume. But it's - - the question is we don't have a strategy about dealing with ISIS. The strategy question is, do you go in and decided to take over for the Iraqis and fight them again, or do you assume that the Iraqis at some point can take care of themselves. I mean, beyond that, what is he talking about strategy for what?

PERINO: Well, let me ask you, Eric, because there is a pattern of warnings taking place last January and February in front of the Congress. So, from the State Department's own people saying that ISIS was constituting a group that was going to be very dangerous and basically they laid out this was going to happen.

So, the fact that they don't have a strategy -- I mean really, is that supposed to be acceptable?

BOLLING: No. It's not acceptable. Probably, as Bob points out, it happened so fast. I mean, ISIS just took over so quickly, they didn't see it coming.

Can I go very quickly? Because we don't have a lot of time. Do you want to know why is working? Why ISIS is working? Why 1,500 or 5,000 -- whatever it is, 5,000 to 10,000 ISIS militants are taking over the country so quickly?

Go to YouTube, go to Twitter, and look at some of the pictures that they're posting. These guys are animals. They are savages. They will stop at nothing. There's beheadings, there's hangings of young kids. It's incredible how evil these people are. And so, that's why it's actually working. I'm gong to --

PERINO: The truth is they're terrorizing.

BOLLING: But they're not jayvee. My point is they ain't no jayvee team.

GUILFOYLE: That's the point I was making.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Today, that you were --

GUTFELD: Yes. You know, I think that -- I think that they did miss some signs though and it wasn't just because it was a surprise. I think that President Obama's vision was clouded by his hatred for Bush's war which had been won and Obama chose to lose.

He's also obsessed with advancing his power domestically through Obamacare and amnesty. Through Obama's prism, it's the Republicans, not al Qaeda, who are the real problem. So, he's kind of like neglectful patient ignoring a mole that turns out was malignant. If he only cared about foreign policy as he does about his abs, we might be in a different place.

BECKEL: Would you think it would be a lot different with ISIS? The ISIS wouldn't have been there if Obama had been there?

GUTFELD: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: I think that they've done airstrikes earlier and push --

GUTFELD: I think the Kurds would have fought --

GUILFOYLE: Yes, I think Dana's right about that, because bottom line is, Obama had information from the head of Kurdish intelligence, real time intelligence, months ago that this was the situation, that they were developing a serious and considerable force, a terrorist army that should be taken seriously and now, why is it so late in the game? Unfortunately, because the United States failed to heed these warnings and failed to act. You see this genocide taking place.

So, as usual we're a day late and a dollar short, big on talk, short on actions. I hope this isn't just an act of political appeasement but they follow it up with more air strikes so that we put them out of business. That's what it's going to take.

BECKEL: Well, if that's the case, then you're talking about going back to war in Iraq.

GUILFOYLE: Well, that's the case.

PERINO: I've got to run.

All right. Next, on "The Five": why America must never retreat in the face of terror. Greg makes that case, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: Now, I'm a big fan of humanitarian aid and by humanitarian aid I mean bombs. There's a misguided belief that humanitarian aid comes in the form of food and water. Send them some MREs and they'll be fine. But, you can't eat a meal when your heads is on a steak. In a world where death is the only language evil understands bombs beat bread. And we make the best bombs and deliver them faster than Domino's, under 30 minutes or it's free. But we need to remind ourselves, if it isn't us who brings it, then who? Wherever we retreat from that vacuum is filled only by monsters of misery, happiness for them is hell. Pacifists will shout, think of all the terrorists your bombs create, but their passivism is directly proportional to their distance from death. And historically killing bad guys doesn't make more bad guys. Killing Saddam Hussein or bin Laden create no new terrorists despite that prediction and I don't recall any terror movements beginning in Japan after August 9, 1945. America's ability to end conflict is the only thing the world's got. It's the only prayer that Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Atheist have in living to see tomorrow. Islamic extremism exists only to spread and you don't negotiate with a stalker. Our response can only come from above in the shape of a 500-pound RSVP for America is truly the bomb. Hey, Eric, isn't the latest insurgency happening because it can, because no one is stopping them? Is that basically it?

ERIC BOLLING, "The Five" HOST: Because they're like we talked last night. They're just bad. They're walking their way through. I think it's very interesting how, what we've done though, we've dropped humanitarian aid into to the 40 or so thousand people who are -- who are separated from food and water.

DANA PERINO, "The Five" HOST: It only reached 8,000.

BOLLING: Right, and they need to continue to do that. And we've also found areas to kind of protect ISIS from some -- I think we have a consul in the area. So, we're protecting that. So, so far, he's kind of done everything where no one can really point the finger at him aggressively. He hasn't done too far and carpet bombing which a lot of people would like to see and he hasn't done nothing where they say, well, we have a lame duck, who do nothing. So, honestly, I think he's done a pretty decent job so far.

GUTFELD: OK. KG, do you think he's done too much or too little?

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, "The Five" HOST: Too little, because you can't just give it up and say, OK, I'm only gonna, you know, go three quarters of the way or I don't know, play, you know, three quarters of football. That's not how it works, especially with terrorists because unfortunately, they don't suffer from fatigue. They become involve in (inaudible) and decision, and we waver and we show, unfortunately, avoid in the leadership by saying look, I don't think we should apologize for America being exceptional. This is a strong country with incredible military capability. We shouldn't be a country of retreat. We should be a country that only accepts defeat from our enemies and terrorists across the world. We have an opportunity here to do the right thing and do it quickly and efficiently, because we had hesitation and now we see where that got us.

GUTFELD: Dana, do you -- does a reaction to terrorism make more terrorism?

PERINO: No. Ignoring terrorism creates more terrorism. I think that was your point, which is the best way to be a humanitarian in the world is to keep the bad guys from being able to grow and soft power -- the softer side of diplomacy, that -- it can only work if it is backed up by hard power. So, I'm frustrated that the action has taken so long but now that they're under way, like you have my full support.

GUILFOYLE: Get it done.

PERINO: Absolutely.

GUTFELD: Bob, do you see this as -- when you're dealing with these kinds of people only a military solution? How can there be any other?

BOB BECKEL, "The Five" HOST: Well, yeah. I mean, I think there's no question it needs a military solution. I think the hope had been that we would stabilize some of these countries and they would be in a position to fight for themselves. That clearly is not the issue -- the case now. If we've now committed to doing this, what we're saying in essence is -- since the United States is the only country that has this kind of capability, is that we are now committed ourselves to a not quick but a very long, long, long battle here with air power. We did this at the Balkans for several years. Do you remember and probably brought them to their knees. But, I guess it means that we have to accept the fact that it will be us and us alone who are gonna take this on. The question is -- it's going to be very expensive and will the American people put up with it? I just don't have the answer to that. But it means we're committing ourselves to a new war in Iraq.

PERINO: I don't think so. I think it's a continuation. That's what I'm saying before. I don't think the president has to be so dramatic and say this is a big new operation. He has the authority, just go ahead and get the job done.

BOLLING: You know, he has to though, because he already declared a win.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Does it matter for him now? I mean, except from his standpoint?

BOLLING: Well, yeah, I think it was the only.

PERINO: Maybe internally for him like that's the one thing the hypocrisy will not stand.

GUILFOYLE: He didn't name the operation. That tells it all.

GUTFELD: Next, as ISIS attempts to eradicate Christians, the pope has issued a call to action. Will Christians worldwide respond to the latest threat of genocide? When we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUILFOYLE: Tens of thousands of Christians in Iraq are in great danger as ISIS jihadist threatens to eradicate them to create an Islamic state. Yazidi members of Iraqi parliament have issued this devastating plea for help.

(WOMAN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GUILFOYLE: And Pope Francis has issue a call to action imploring the world's Christians to take action to end the humanitarian tragedy. How will the Christian community respond? It is heart-wrenching when you see that woman's emotional plea, the desperation when she talks about the people that are being killed, the families that are besieged, Dana.

PERINO: Well, there's a usually -- in every situation like this, there's usually one moment that you can point to that turn public opinion and this could be it in terms of this humanitarian aid, that people will look back and say remember that woman, the anguish because she was representing so many other people. And it helps us keep in mind that, yes, it is true, that Muslims have killed more Muslims. We have protected Muslims, we have gone to war to protect Muslims. But when it comes to protecting Christians as well, I think that that's something that America can get behind President Obama if he decides to continue forward. I don't think he'll take a lot of heat for it. I think he'll be supported.

GUILFOYLE: All right, Bob?

BECKEL: The thing I find rather dramatic, disturbing here rather, is the pope waits this long to make a comment -- a statement like that. Christian countries around the world, those are the majority Christian, wait with the exception to the camera and to say something. Obama has just now begins to talk about Christians. We've been talking about this on this show now for four months. This is nothing new. You talk about ISIS, you're talking about what they've been doing to Christians. They started this in Egypt months ago and we sat back, the pope has sat back. Everybody has sat back I guess out of fear of the Muslims. But it is about time that the people wake up and this government wake up and those of the majority Christians wake up and realize they're trying to eradicate the entire religion and that, Mr. Pope, is something that you might want to get into earlier.

BOLLING: Oh, my gosh.

GUTFELD: I think the pope has waited enough.

GUILFOYLE: Let's not offend the pope.

BECKEL: When? When?

BOLLING: I don't have a date for you, Bob, but I kind of remember when we were talking about the 1,800-year-old church that was leveled in Syria. I believe he weighed in. Look, whether it's Muslim brotherhood killing (inaudible) in Egypt or in Syria with ISIS or Lebanon or Hamas. There's one common denominator beside its tolerance, its Islamists, its Muslim radicals. They're so intolerant.

GUILFOYLE: Jihadists.

BOLLING: Yeah the jihadist. So, finally, yeah, we're talking about it. We were the only ones talking about it. Now all networks are talking about it. It's about time. This is an epidemic persecution of Christians. It has to stop the more we talk about it.

GUILFOYLE: And it's his holiness(ph), not Mr. Pope.

GUTFELD: They claim they wanna create an Islamic state. They have, it's called crazy. And the question to start this was called what should Christians do. That might not be the right question. The right question should be what should Muslims do. ISIS is killing Christians but your silence, the Muslim silence is killing your religion. The outcry and the purge must come from within. Everyone is vulnerable to these ghouls and they believe they are the true successor to Islam. So, who's gonna stop them? The others, the moderates in Islam. The good news is CAIR condemned them. A start, CARE, the Council for American Islamic Relations.

BECKEL: That's a very good point. If they're gonna depend on us to do this, I mean, have we ever thought, why do they not do it themselves? That's what I find?

GUILFOYLE: Get involved. CAIR make a difference. All right. Coming up next on The Five, the live report from Gaza with the latest on the crisis in the Middle East. The cease-fire is over and bombs are flying anew. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKEL: Welcome back to The Five. We turn now to the crisis in the Middle East where Hamas has resumed its rocket attacks against Israel after a three-day truce expired. Israel has responded with air-strikes. Rick Leventhal is on the ground in Gaza with the latest. Rick.

RICK LEVENTHAL, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Bob, we've just heard a couple of more air-strikes to the south of us. We've seen some flares or tracer fire in the skies over Gaza. We saw a number of air strikes by Israel into Gaza this afternoon and this evening. This morning we saw rockets some of the very first rockets fired from Gaza toward Israel just minutes after the cease-fire ended.

(VIDEO OF GAZA FIRING ROCKETS TOWARDS ISRAEL)

LEVENTHAL: These are some of just -- some of the 60 rockets that Israel said were fired in its direction breaking the cease-fire and requiring Israel to return fire, they say. Three doesn't at least hit inside the Israeli territory, some minor damages and a few injuries, but the Israeli response has been pretty hard. They struck a number of targets across Northern Gaza where we are, in Central Gaza near Khan Yunis and also further to the south. Palestinians report at least six dead today including a 10-year-old boy and some 30 wounded. But, of course, Israel said that Hamas is to blame. That if Hamas hadn't fired on Israel, then Israel would not have been forced to retaliate. And, of course, all of this means that the peace talks are basically halted in Cairo. Israel has left the table. The Palestinians and Egyptians are still there, Bob.

BECKEL: Yeah. Rick, by the way, you've done a terrific job there. I've been asking this question over and over again. And maybe you've got some hint of this. Where is -- were they shot 61 missiles today, that's thousands of missiles that have been shot. Where are these missiles -- how are they getting into Gaza? I mean, I can assume they're coming from Syria and Iran.

LEVENTHAL: Well, in Egypt they've been smuggling them through the tunnels, the Israeli's belief. From Egypt into Gaza and they have gotten them in other ways as well. But that basically how they get them here, and then they hide them in those tunnels or another area and they fire them in many cases from civilian areas an open areas like some right behind us here in North Gaza.

BECKEL: OK, Rick, thank as lot. Stay safe. Is this a surprise to anybody here that the Hamas picked this right up?

BOLLING: I'll just very quickly throw this out there. Hamas said they broke the cease-fire because their demands weren't met. By the way, the 72 hours was up and their demands weren't met so they started firing again. What right do they have to make demands?

PERINO: Right they don't have -- terrorist organizations don't get to make demands.

GUILFOYLE: But guess what, they missed the memo because all they've been getting is coddling from the media, from this administration. I don't even understand why we're having this conversation. They're a terrorist organization. Why are you showing them so much respect? Why are the Israelis the bad guys and they can't defend themselves? It's not the fault of the Israelis that people in Gaza are dying, Hamas is causing the death and destruction of the Gazans too. That's the responsibility on them.

GUTFELD: For Hamas, a truce is a time for them to read all those media clippings from all the European media like the BBC and the Guardian to find out how well they're doing.

BECKEL: OK. And there we go. One more thing.

BOLLING: And jimmy carter.

GUILFOYLE: Jimmy carter, your buddy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLLING: All right. It's time for One More Thing. It's Friday so it's time for. OK. Are you ready for a cringe worthy, almost painful-to-watch video? Very short, house minority whip Steny Hoyer, a democrat of Maryland addressing an African congress the other day. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STENY HOYER, MARYLAND DEMOCRAT: First of all, let me tell my friends from Africa I do not whip people. And if you've watched House Of Cards, it is not accurate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: That was written -- that was probably on a teleprompter somewhere. Representative. Wow, wow. OK. Who's up next? It's Dana. You're up.

PERINO: Well, I don't have a cool graphic but I'm gonna jump in on Fool of the Week and tell you about the state department. Do you remember this hearing? Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Barber, I take it you've been to Iceland.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, I'm not, I haven't had the privilege yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've been to Norway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you been to Argentina?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, I haven't had the opportunity yet to be there and traveled pretty extensively around the world, but not yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: So, after a series of gaffes at the State Department hearings, these are just for ambassadors. You have to go through a senate confirmation. You usually will go through the State Department communications team of people in the region, brief the nominees so that they can have a good hearing but the State Department apparently can't do that on its own so they have hired a firm out of Florida, Amtis for $545,000 so that they can coach their nominees in order to be ambassadors. Leslie Page(ph), citizens against government waste say it's not Charlie Rose Show, it's not The View. It's is congressional testimony. So, just cough up the facts. I agree with her that's all they need to do.

BECKEL: You know, isn't it amazing they don't send these ambassadors just before their hearing. At least go to the country so that they can say, I've been there, right?

PERINO: That'll never happen again.

BOLLING: Bob, you're up.

GUILFOYLE: I'm ready for Ireland.

BECKEL: With this sentence, one of the greatest sentences when I started my political career that I heard. Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as president in that hour in this office. That was Richard Nixon 40 years ago today, resigning his office as president. He should have. He was a criminal. And it was -- he had to get out because the republicans abandoned him, and they should have.

BOLLING: All righty. Greg, you're up.

GUTFELD: At least the democrats have one scandal they can still talk about 40 years ago. We can't talk about the present ones, right? All right. You know what? It's time for this. Greg's secrets to happiness. All right. Here's a cat in a bucket of water. All right? Why is this important? Why am I showing you a cat in a bucket of water? Why am I showing you that? Because pleasures in life are simple and we tend to forget that. So, when you are down and you're not feeling right, climb into a bucket of water.

PERINO: With a cat?

GUTFELD: No, not with a cat, you pervert.

BECKEL: Is he stuck in there?

GUTFELD: No, he's not stuck in there, Bob. But look how happy that cat is in that bucket of water. Everybody can be that happy if you just sit and calmly relax.

PERINO: Looks like taking a bath in 30 years.

GUILFOYLE: Being water-boarded. Cats don't even like water.

GUTFELD: That's my point.

GUILFOYLE: This is odd.

GUTFELD: Happy as a cat in a bucket of water.

GUILFOYLE: I think dogs are much more easier to understand.

BOLLING: Dogs rule.

GUILFOYLE: I know, right?

BOLLING: You're up.

GUILFOYLE: OK, so I have a very happy story for you. This is amazing. Why you never give up hope because for this family, their dream came true and they were reunited. This is tsunami survivor Raudhatul Jannah. And she was 4 years old. She was thought to have died in the Indian ocean in that tsunami. She was reunited with her family when her brother saw a girl walking on the street and he said, oh, my God, this looks like my sister and he was right. So, this family has now been reunited living together happily. It's really an incredible story. She was living 80 miles away south from her family and now she's back home where she belongs.

BECKEL: That's great.

PERINO: Isn't that a sweet story?

BOLLING: All right. I guess that will do it for us. Don't forget another special live edition of The Five coming your way tonight, 8:00 P.M. Eastern. We'll see you then. Special Report is on deck and Dana and I will see you on Monday.

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