that is a big jump from the official number we ve been reported earlier and that 99 of those are seriously injured. many foreign nationals, probably among them, including americans, possibly british, and many others, as you can imagine, in this very metropolitan and cosmopolitan capital. so french president francois hollande said today in his address to the people that isis, and he named isis, has declared war on this country. a terrorist group, he said, a jihadi group, and there is really a sense of heightened alert. cnn s military analyst and the retired commanding general for u.s. army in europe and the seventh army, lieutenant general mark hurtling is there joining us in the united states and also the contributor and co-author of isis inside the army of terror, michael weiss. can we perhaps both start by asking you, general, what now do our leaders have to think about in terms of neutralizing isis?
yeah, we should also point out in france, in terms of countries in europe accepting refugees, they are accepting a small number compared to germany. they committed to accepting some 20,000 over the next two years and you look at germany, they are receiving 800,000, 900,000 over this last year. we did talk to that one eye witness in the theater that said that his friends had heard some of the terrorists talking and he believes they were speaking in french. but again, he didn t hear that himself. so i m always wary about somebody reporting what their friends told him. i want to bring in dan oshay former hostage negotiator and a single threat running through terror attacks and the downing of the russian airliner joining us also is cnn contributor michael weiss, the author of isis inside the army of
from your reporting on russians in egypt. that s pretty big. all right, nic robertson, thank you so much. so let s get more analysis now. joining us from new york, cnn contributor, michael weiss, the co-author of isis: inside the army of terror. so, michael, good to see you,.egyptians didn t necessarily say it was a bomb this morning, but other investigators as well as the u.s. and uk believe that there has been some sort of explosion. so what does this tell you? if, indeed, isis, which insists some responsibility, what does it tell you about the seriousness of the isis threat or reach if, indeed, that group is responsible? well, i think the most alarming aspect so far, and again, this is assuming that this was, in fact, a bomb. i think it s quite right to stress that the investigation is still underway. the most alarming aspect to me is that it will have been done with an insider. somebody in the security services of sharm el sheikh airport or perhaps even within
what the intelligence is behind that claim, but certainly, it does appear to be in step with u.s. intelligence. the prime minister is now in another emergency meeting. likely, he s discussing how to get all of those british stranded tourist back from sharm el sheikh to the u.s. that could start as early as tomorrow. clarissa, thank you very much. this is setting up as a simple crime analysis, you have means, motive and opportunity. it s a simple analysis here. let s bring in ambassador thomas pickerling, former ambassador to israel and jordan. and michael weis, go author of isis inside the army of terror. let s start with you, ambassador, motive, for isis to start a russian plane would be? is the most obvious would be syria.
elise abbott, thank you. three very distinguished experts. michael weis is cnn contributor and at the daily beast and author of isis inside the army of terror. lost aban is a boeing 777 captain and a cnn analyst. anthony may is a former explosives expert with the u.s. bureau of tobacco and firearms and a veteran of the twa 800 case back from 1996. michael weis, if i can begin with you. the issue of these that smoking guns so far or definitive smoking guns so far. but there are definitely clues that could point to terror in this case, at this point. let s just start with the list. there s chatter. supposedly picked up by u.s. intelligence after the crash. there s that heat flash that was picked up by u.s. satellite. there s a lack of any distress calls that came from the cockpit of the crew. alleged lax security at the sharm el sheikh airport. and then of course that bold, but pretty vague, claim and not