Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Jordan Vows Revenge after ISIS Burns Pilot Alive; Interview with Sen. Richard Burr; Jordan Vows Revenge after ISIS Burns Pilot Alive; How France's Most Wanted Woman Turned Radical; Knife Attack Near Jewish Center

Aired February 03, 2015 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now, breaking news. Vow of revenge -- Jordan says it will unleash its power in answering the death of a captive pilot after ISIS images showed the hostage being burned alive in a cage.

ISIS in America -- a CNN exclusive. We're taking you inside the FBI's counterterrorism operation, where there's very real concern about Americans who have returned from fighting in Syria.

And most wanted woman -- she's has gone from wearing a bikini to wearing a full veil. We're getting new information on the girlfriend of a Paris terrorist, even as a new attack is carried out in France.

I'm Wolf Blitzer.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: A key U.S. ally vowing revenge for a shocking atrocity -- a display of savagery that's even extreme for ISIS. The terror group has released images showing a captured Jordanian pilot being burned alive in a cage.

The word came while Jordan's King Abdullah was visiting here in Washington. He'll make an urgent stop over at the White House shortly, before cutting short his trip to return back to Jordan. His government and his military say Jordan will soon show proof of its power. Very tough talk also from the United States, which says it will stand with Jordan until the "the barbaric enemy, ISIS, is defeated."

The Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, Senator Richard Burr, is standing by, along with our correspondents and analysts.

But let's get the very latest.

Brian Todd is joining us -- Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, there is shock, anger, outrage on the streets of Amman, Jordan tonight. And with that, pressure on Jordan's King to respond. He's a key American ally in the Middle East.

The question is, how will he strike back against ISIS?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): Outside King Abdullah's palace, an angry crowd calls for revenge for the grotesque killing by ISIS of Jordan pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh. Shock and anger after video showed the pilot was burned alive. The king says he, too, was angry. And in a message he recorded in Washington, he made this vow.

KING ABDULLAH, JORDAN (through translator): In these difficult moments, it is the duty of the sons and daughters of Jordan to stand together and show the meddle of the Jordanian people in unity, determination and resolve.

TODD: Jordan's top military spokesman takes it even further.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): His blood will not be wasted and the punishment of those who assassinated Moaz will be a revenge in the same level of the Jordan tragedy.

TODD: Analysts say Jordanians will be counting in their king, a top U.S. ally, considered a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad, to respond forcefully in a public way.

EDWARD "SKIP" GNEHM, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO JORDAN: The king is under enormous pressure. I mean this something he's going to feel personally and emotionally.

TODD: How will he respond?

A Jordan official tells CNN their resolve and commitment to the fight against ISIS will not change.

As for its options, Jordan could step up its involvement in the military coalition against ISIS, could increase its already impressive intelligence network inside Iraq and Syria.

But Jordan also holds at least a few prisoners from ISIS and its predecessor, Al Qaeda in Iraq.

THOMAS JOCELYN, FOUNDATION FOR THE DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: They could, in fact, step up the executions of the others that they have arrested or found or people who have supported the Islamic State and speed up those trials.

TODD: The Jordanian official we spoke with could not confirm or deny reports that Jordan, as revenge for the planet's murder, will soon execute Sajida al-Rishawi, the failed suicide bomber who attacked a wedding party in Jordan nearly a decade ago. Al-Rishawi had been on death row for those attacks. And recently ISIS had threatened to kill the pilot if Jordan didn't release her.

One analyst says the optics of executing al-Rishawi might not look good for King Abdullah. JOCELYN: There will be pressure on King Abdullah to do more. But that more has to be on the battlefield, as in taking the fight to ISIS on the battlefield -- their fighters, their leaders, that sort of thing. You don't want to get into this tit for tat over hostages and prisoners and that sort of thing, because that really lowers you to their standard.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

TODD: Now, while we watch how Jordan will respond to all of this, we're also looking for answers from the horrific ISIS video of the pilot's death.

Why did they choose to burn the pilot when they beheaded other hostages?

Intelligence officials in Amman and Washington will be poring over other clues from this video.

In the video, the pilot is seen being interrogated in a dark room. He's seen walking alone through debris. Eventually the video cuts to him in a cage. His orange suit is doused in some kind of accelerant. A masked executioner is seen holding what looks to be a torch. And then it's lit and then a trail of fire powder into the cage is ignited -- Wolf, it is a horrific deed.

BLITZER: It certainly is. But the video does show the pilot.

He appears to be calm and brave, right?

TODD: He certainly does, Wolf. You know, his -- he raises his hands at one point, possibly to pray, possibly to avoid the flames. He then lowers his head and his body is engulfed in fire. But he does appear, at least in some parts of the video, to be relatively calm, just a -- an awful, awful scene.

BLITZER: It is, indeed.

All right, Brian, thank you.

As Jordanians erupt in fury over the pilot's murder, King Abdullah, he's cutting short his visit to the United States. And the Jordanian military is publically vowing to take revenge.

Let's go to Amman, Jordan right now.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is on the scene for us -- Jomana, tell us what the reaction has been there. I understand crowds have gathered outside the palace and they are crying for revenge.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have seen crowds, Wolf, on the streets of Amman earlier this evening, once this news broke outside an area where the family and tribe of Moaz al-Kasasbeh had been gathering over the past couple of weeks. And people were showing up in solidarity there, and also calling for revenge. We saw that taking also place in a couple of other locations, including the hometown of Moaz al-Kasasbeh, in the south of Jordan, in the city of Karav (ph).

People are infuriated. They're angry. They are in shock by what they describe as this barbaric act, the savagery that they have seen. And absolute shock because some people here, Wolf, were hanging onto the hope that possibly there was talk of indirect negotiations, that we had heard that he might return home.

But tonight, this is a nation in mourning, Wolf. This is a man they considered a national hero. So a lot of shock here. And while the debate goes on about whether Jordan should be part of that coalition against ISIS or not and this debate really heats up in this country, this evening, this nation seems to be united and their anger directed at one party, and that is ISIS.

BLITZER: And when they -- when they say they want to take revenge for the murder of this pilot, we know that there are some ISIS prisoners in Jordan right now.

What is the expectation there, Jomana?

Do they expect Jordan to simply go ahead and execute these ISIS prisoners, to seek revenge for the killing of the pilot?

KARADSHEH: Wolf, we have not heard anything official about that. But this is a sentiment. This is something that we have heard from Jordanians over the last 10 days or so.

Once ISIS came out and threatened to execute Moaz al-Kasasbeh, we heard a lot of people here saying if that happens, Jordan should respond with something similar, whether it is Sajida al-Rishawi or other prisoners Jordan is holding.

As mentioned earlier, Jordan, in its detention facilities, in its prisons, it does have former jihadis, former members of al Qaeda in Iraq other than Sajida al-Rishawi.

So this is something that we have heard here. Nothing official as of yet in what sort of response the Jordanian government will have. But lots of calls for that and other, you know, tough action when it comes to dealing with ISIS in neighboring countries.

BLITZER: All right, Jomana Karadsheh in Amman, Jordan for us.

Thank you.

We'll get back to you.

Joining us now, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Republican Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina.

Senator, thanks very much for coming in.

SEN. RICHARD BURR (R-NC), CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Good to be here.

BLITZER: What do you expect Jordan to do now? BURR: Listen, Jordan has got options with prisoners. They've got options with the partnership that the coalition forces have in Syria. But our hearts go out to the Jordanians today, to the people, and preceded by the Japanese with their loss.

And once again, we see an example where, in a Muslim country, ISIS commits a horrific act. And realize that this is just as important to them in the Middle East to have the security that they need so their children and their families are protected. And that's why we've got a great coalition to fight ISIS. It's just we've got to step up our game.

BLITZER: We know they beheaded those two Japanese hostages, some American hostages, a British hostage.

Why would they burn this Jordanian fighter pilot?

BURR: Wolf, maybe we'll figure that out. Maybe we'll collect some intelligence that will lead us as to why they did this.

Listen, this is a horrific, violent group. And we see things that, in the 21st century, you wouldn't expect to have happen. And the truth is, that that's the type of enemy we're up against. This is a war. And nobody knows it better than those already in the Middle East.

So we've really got to get our hands around it here and decide whether we need to change our commitment to the region to end this.

BLITZER: The Jordanian military says this video of him being burned alive, the Jordanian pilot, was actually taken on January 3, but only released today.

Is there a good explanation you're hearing from intelligence analysts and others why they waited a month to release the video?

BURR: No, I think there is a lot of consistencies that we've seen with other tortuous acts -- the orange jumpsuits, the covered heads of individuals. And the fact is that most of them were probably committed long before the release of videos. So there may be something consistent there.

But as time goes on, we're going to get to the bottom of exactly what the time line was.

BLITZER: You know, the U.S. is flying F-16. Fighter planes are flying over Syria, over Jordan, F-15s. If -- and we hope it never happens -- if an American pilot had to bail out of his plane and was captured by ISIS and they burned alive an American pilot in a cage, what would the U.S. do?

BURR: Well, you know, I think some of us are begging the administration now, let's re-think our policy. Let's figure out whether our policy is right for the enemy that we're up against.

There's no question, boots have to be on the ground at some point. Whether they're U.S. boots, that's up for discussion. But our regional partners are going to have to do it. We will not -- and every military leader has said -- you will not change the course of Syria and Iraq from the air alone. And we're beginning to change it a little bit in Iraq, but not in Syria.

BLITZER: But you know that none of the Arab countries in that region are going to send their troops in, unless the United States leads.

BURR: There's no question on that. And I think the decision that this administration has to make is are we going to do the things to lead?

And I hope it's under discussion at the White House today, because we put those American pilots and those coalition pilots in jeopardy every time they fly over that air space.

BLITZER: So let's be precise, Senator, you want U.S. combat troops to go in there, presumably in significant numbers, and try to fight and destroy ISIS?

BURR: Wolf, if I'm not convinced yet that it needs U.S. boots on the ground. But clearly it needs a contingent of boots on the ground...

BLITZER: Well, who else -- who else, Senator, is -- I don't see any other country, obviously Turkey, a NATO ally, I don't see -- not even Jordan right now. They're angry, but I don't see them getting ready to send troops in. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait.

Who else is going to send troops in?

BURR: We can display the leadership without having the bodies there. But, clearly, with every day that goes on, we get more recruits into ISIS. And we don't kill as many in a day as they get in recruits.

BLITZER: You know, he was presumably killed on January 3. The video was released today. And some people are suggesting that was because they wanted to time it with King Abdullah's visit to Washington right now, to embarrass him, you will, to score propaganda points. And they're very effective in their social media propaganda, as you well know.

Do you buy that theory?

BURR: I'm not sure that they're that smart. I think that the social media side, they know how to reach people with their message and the image that they want to show.

I'm convinced that the times that they spent negotiating with the Japanese for release, that they spent with the Jordanians, they knew that they had individuals that weren't alive probably. So this was a -- this was a bogus negotiation.

Remember, ISIL flush with cash. This is a group that not only recruits well, but they pay their terrorists on time. Most of us would call that an army.

BLITZER: And they stole all that money from those banks in Mosul. When you say they're flush with cash, they've got hundreds of millions of dollars.

BURR: Absolutely.

BLITZER: Yes. All right. I want you to stand by, Senator.

We have a lot more to discuss.

We're following the breaking news, the reaction -- the reaction to the murder of this Jordanian F-16 fighter pilot.

We're standing by also, the president of the United States and the King of Jordan, King Abdullah, they're getting ready to meet over at the White House. We'll have coverage of that.

Much more coming up right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Take a look at this. You're looking at the West Wing of the White House. We're awaiting the arrival of Jordan's King Abdullah for a previously unscheduled meeting with President Obama. King Abdullah getting ready to head to the White House and meet with the president. They both will be making a joint statement. We'll have live coverage of that.

Jordan, as you know, is a key U.S. ally; is vowing revenge after ISIS burns alive a captured Jordanian F-16 fighter pilot. We're back with the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina.

Senator, I just want to wrap up. Sajida al-Rishawi, she is the woman who tried to blow herself up at these weddings that were going on back in 2005 in Jordan. Sixty people were killed. Hundreds of others were wounded. Her so-called husband, he succeeded. Her suicide bomb didn't go off. She's convicted of terrorism. Now there are reports in Jordan, in revenge or retaliation for the killing of the pilot, she should be executed, to which you say?

BURR: Well, I would say she had been found guilty of terrorism. She was been on Death Row over there. I saw Jordan ought to follow their rule of law. I hope that's what they'll do. The reality is that she's an individual with direct ties to ISIL, her brother, and a committed terrorist, as have been proven.

BLITZER: So you wouldn't have a problem with Jordan executing her?

BURR: No.

BLITZER: Let's talk a little bit about what's going on on Jordanian television right now. I'm going to put it up on the screen. Take a look at this, Senator. You see basically they're showing off their tanks. They're showing off their missiles, their aircraft, and they're playing sort of martial music underneath all of these images. They've got a pretty good military. It's not huge, but it's U.S.- trained, largely. These fighter pilots, what's going on? I guess they're getting ready to send a message to ISIS. What do you think? BURR: Well, I think that the Jordanians are very equipped to handle

any regional problem that they might be involved in, and their intelligence operation is extremely good. And we're close partners, so we'll help them with whatever needs. But they're an integral part of the overall coalition against ISIS. And we need them. The question is what will the king's decision be when he returns home, if he's going to step it up?

BLITZER: And if the king were to say, "You know what, Mr. President?" He's about to meet with the president of the United States. "Mr. President, Jordan, we're ready to take decisive action, not only to try to degrade ISIS but to destroy ISIS. We can't do it alone. We need you, Mr. President, the United States of America, to authorize joint operations. Let's go in there and get this job done." Do you think -- what do you think the president will say?

BURR: Well, I hope he would certainly entertain the offer by the king. Wolf, we can't forget, ISIL controls an area within Syria and Iraq that makes any terrorist training grounds that we've seen up till this point seem like a playground.

And the truth is you can't leave a group of 20 to 40,000 terrorists there to recruit, to train. It's just going to get worse. And I think the king understands that, and the Jordanian people have seen the effects of it today.

BLITZER: Do you think the American public, though, is ready to see a major escalation in that part of the world, given the ten years and the hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and the price the U.S. paid in blood and treasure?

BURR: Wolf, when I left town Sunday to fly back to Washington and a woman came up to me on the airport and she said, "Senator, when are you going to stop letting them behead people?"

And you know, I think there are a lot of folks out there believing that we can do that. We can't do that without a commitment, a change in policy and a strong coalition throughout the Middle East. We could put that together.

BLITZER: These other countries in the region, and later the visiting foreign minister of Qatar is going to be here. And he's going to be sitting exactly where you are right now. These other countries whether Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia, are they ready to join in this kind of serious operation? Do you believe?

BURR: Qatar has been an unbelievable partner, but so has everybody in the region, both financially and with all the support that's been required of him. I believe that we've got the coalition that we need. We just have to more clearly define what it is we're going to accomplish and determine what it's going to take to do that.

BLITZER: What does it say to you that, within -- within a span of a few days, two Japanese hostages were beheaded. Then they released the video. And now a Jordanian pilot is burned alive in a cage after being tortured. You've got Jordan, and you've got Japan. What is the ISIS objective in here in doing what they're doing?

BURR: Well, I think clearly, the objective is to put fear in everybody around the world that doesn't think what they think. And through that they believe that there will be some conversion that we make. We've got to stand up for what we believe in. We've got to stand up against the brutality and the horrific acts that we've seen out of this terrorist group and we've seen out of other terrorist groups around the world.

BLITZER: I know you've only been chairman of the committee for a few days. But you were -- you've been on the committee for several years. Do you have confidence that U.S. intelligence is getting it right and knows what they are doing?

BURR: Listen, we've -- we're drinking out of a fire hose right now with everything that's going on with ISIL, with the number of geographic locations al Qaeda is in around the world, with the attacks of terrorists, all the take-downs in Belgium, what's led to processing all that data. These events allow us to be smarter, to get a little more information that makes us safe at home, but trying to inject that into global security is a little bit tougher. But with the great partners we've got we're making progress at that.

BLITZER: Mr. Chairman, thanks very much for joining us.

Richard Burr is the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. We appreciate it very much.

We're going to be going back to the White House. Shortly, the president of the United States is going to be meeting with the Jordanian king, King Abdullah. He's getting ready for that meeting. We're going to have coverage of that. Once the king arrives at the White House, they'll both be making statements, President Obama and King Abdullah.

We're following the breaking news for you. The burning of a Jordanian F-16 fighter pilot, the video has been released. Also, ISIS in America, a CNN exclusive. We're going inside the FBI's counterterrorism operations center where there's deep concern right now about Americans who have come back from the fighting in Syria.

And as France reels from another attack we're getting new images, more information about its most wanted woman. The terrorist gun-wielding girlfriend who's gone from a bikini to a full veil. Lots of news happening today right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Get to the breaking news, a vital U.S. ally reeling in horror and vowing revenge after ISIS releases images showing a hostage, Jordanian F-16 fighter pilot being burned alive while caged. Jordan's King Abdullah is cutting short his visit to the United States after a meeting with President Obama, that meeting taking place at the top of the hour, his country vowing to show its power. The U.S. military is pledging to, quote, "fight this barbaric enemy until it is defeated." Let's go live to our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. She's working the story for us, has a lot more. What's the latest, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you've seen this claim emanating out of Jordan that, sadly, the pilot was killed as long ago as January 3, a very specific date, obviously. So it raises the question, how would anybody know that?

The U.S. intelligence community scouring that tape for any clues. There might be two ways that that January 3 date is actually what happened.

One way would be if there were U.S. intercepts of ISIS communications. We know that the U.S. intelligence community is intercepting those communications every chance they get.

Jordanian intelligence services also very strong on the ground. They talk to an awful lot of people in Iraq and Syria. They know a lot about what is going on. It is always possible they have some trusted agent in the area that heard or saw something or had some report.

But right now, struggling to confirm exactly when this might have happened, looking at every frame of that video for any clues -- Wolf.

BLITZER: What are you hearing, Barbara, from your sources about the calculations facing Jordan's King Abdullah.

STARR: You know, as King Abdullah flies back to his country this evening from Washington, he has a number of things to juggle, and the U.S. military, the administration, also a partner in this.

His partner essentially derives from not just the tribes, which are very strong in Jordan, the pilot's family being a member of a very significant tribe in that country, but also the Jordanian military, which is very close to the U.S.

I have traveled with the Jordanian military in Afghanistan. I have covered them in Jordan. They are very loyal to the king. It is a very small group, essentially. He personally knows his top commanders. He knows many of the troops. Many of them know him. He is out and about all the time.

So King Abdullah right now, as he decides what he wants to do, has to juggle what the tribes are saying, what the people on the street are saying, and what the Jordanian military might want to do about all of this. It's a very delicate calculation. He wants to insure, clearly, that some of these demonstrations on the streets of Amman, around Jordan don't get out of hand. That it doesn't become destabilizing. But the Jordanian military also very strong on moderate Islam, so he is going to want to be seen as obeying the laws of Islam in whatever he decides to do as the hours move ahead -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Let's not forget, King Abdullah himself is a military man, trained in the military. He's got a strong history there.

Barbara, thank you. With us now in THE SITUATION ROOM, our terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank; now law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes, the former assistant director of the FBI.

Why would they wait a month? If they really did burn him in that cage on January 3, why would they wait a month to release the video?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I don't know, Wolf. That sounds like an enormous mistake, because they lost any bargaining power that they might have had. And now the propaganda factor, I think, is going to completely backfire on them. The reason I say that is when is the last time you had a mob in the street of one of these Muslim countries that was not screaming "death to America" but in fact, screaming, "Get revenge on ISIS," which essentially means team up with America. So I think it's a huge mistake on the part of ISIS in this case.

BLITZER: Paul, what do you think? How likely is it that Jordan will now go ahead and execute this female convicted terrorist, Sajida al- Rishawi, who's convicted in connection with a bombing of those wedding in Amman, Jordan, about 10 years ago, killing 60 people.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, it's certainly possible that that will be a step that they take. She is, after all, on Death Row. The only reason she wasn't executed back in 2005 was because Jordan had a moratorium on the death penalty, but I believe the death penalty has been reinstalled in Jordan. So it's possible that that will be a step.

I think the Americans and others will be encouraging the Jordanians not to take that step, but rather to focus on taking the fight to ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

And of course, Jordan has very significant intelligence capabilities in both Syria and Iraq. In fact, back in 2006, Jordan played a key role in that U.S. airstrike that took out the founder of ISIS, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

BLITZER: And Tom, the U.S. and Jordan have an incredibly close intelligence relationship, military relationship, political relationship, so I assume anything that Jordan does will be in coordination with the United States.

FUENTES: I think it will be. And I think we're fortunate in this case, because the king of Jordan and his predecessor, the king of Jordan, are probably among the best heads of state in the world. Reasonable, rational -- rational, respected by their people, respected by their military. And I think -- I don't know if they'll execute this woman. They may say she wasn't ISIS; leave her out of it.

BLITZER: All right. Well, stand by, because we have a lot more to go over. I want both of you to stand by.

But up next we have an exclusive look inside the U.S. government's command center, where they're now tracking ISIS in the United States. Plus we have more details about that female companion of the Paris supermarket gunman. We're learning how she turned into a hard-core radical jihadist.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: You're looking live at the West Wing of the White House. Jordan's King Abdullah will be arriving there any moment now to meet with President Obama. We'll have coverage of that. They're both getting ready to make a statement.

We're also watching other important developments in the global war on terror. A man with a knife slightly wounded two French soldiers today. Those soldiers were patrolling near a Jewish community center in Nice, in the southern part of France.

The suspect, who was apprehended, has the -- same last name as the gunman who attacked that kosher supermarket in Paris last month, killing four Jewish men inside the store, although officials say they don't know if these two men are related.

We're also getting new information about the woman who lived in Paris with the -- that attacker at that supermarket.

Let's bring in our senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns. He's getting more information.

What are you learning?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Hayat Boumeddiene is seen as a probable accomplice to the Paris attack but her intelligence value may outweigh anything she can add to the criminal investigation and that is why the French government is pressing hard to try to locate her.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS (voice-over): France's most wanted woman, believed to be in Syria, a picture of terror. Newly discovered pictures obtained by CNN from someone close to the investigation show a young woman going from bikini on a beach to a fully veiled, crossbow-totting Islamic radical.

If captured and questioned, authorities see 26-year-old Hayat Boumeddiene as a potential gold mine of information. Not just about the Paris attacks but also about everything that ISIS and al Qaeda, and how women get recruited.

JEAN CHARLES BRISARD, INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM CONSULTANT: We'd better learn the role of women as backbone to these networks. We've seen that already in the past and especially in the context of Syria and Iraq.

JOHNS: There are questions only Boumeddiene can answer, whether she was a common law wife first or the instigator who helped Amedy Coulibaly, her husband, go from a two-bit criminal to total terrorist. Gunning down a police woman and killing four more people at a Jewish supermarket.

Among the clues to Boumeddiene's state of mind found in her personal effects, according to a "Washington Post" report, a copy of a jihadist book authored by the radicalized woman Malika el-Aroud, who made clear her intentions to wage war on the West in this CNN documentary in 2006.

MALIKA EL-AROUD, JIHADIST (Through Translator): It was Osama bin Laden who stood up against the biggest enemy in the world, the United States.

JOHNS: Much was already known about Hayat Boumeddiene, including that she and Coulibaly visited at least once with radical recruiter Djamel Beghal. But the "Post" uncovered other details. At 8 years old, her mother died, placed in a group home at 13, later a pilgrimage to Mecca, and a friendship with the wife of one of the Kouachi brothers who staged the terror attack on "Charlie Hebdo." A young woman radicalized as many other recruits with troubled lives.

BRISARD: They think they will find through this organization and their ideology some kind of recognition that they couldn't have in their normal life. So, yes, indeed, by both means, they are attracted one to the other.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: One of the many facts that appears clear as day in hindsight is that Boumeddiene was not seen as a threat before the Paris attacks. Now authorities in France are realizing they should have paid much more attention to her.

BLITZER: They certainly should have.

All right. Good report. Thanks very much, Joe Johns.

Let's bring back our terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank.

Paul, this attack -- with a knife, these two French soldiers who were stabbed, they were patrolling outside a Jewish community center in Nice, it follows that new ISIS video calling for knife attacks on French police.

Do you think there's a connection here?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, there could be a connection, Wolf. Just today French ISIS fighters in Syria released a video calling for knife attacks on French police in France by ISIS supporters and then we saw this attack in Nice by Moussa Coulibaly who in the previous month was apparently trying to get across the Syria but was prevented from traveling, deported from Turkey, returned to France, and then carried out this attempted attack today.

So quite possibly a connection. ISIS have been repeatedly calling for these kinds of attacks in the West. Also in the United States, knife attacks, gun attacks, running people over with cars, that kind of thing in retaliation for these airstrikes against Iraq and Syria -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Is it just a coincidence that the terrorists who stabbed these French soldiers today, his name is Moussa Coulibaly, and the guy who killed those people in that kosher supermarket, Amedy Coulibaly, got the same last name? Is it just a coincidence or might they be related?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, we don't know that yet for sue. At the moment it's being reported in the French media that it was just a namesake. It's a fairly common Malayan name and Amedy Coulibaly was Malayan, as I believe this individual was in Nice that launched the attack today. But authorities will be looking at any possible connection. Obviously a huge coincidence that they have the same name.

BLITZER: Indeed.

All right, Paul, stand by. We're going to get back to you as well.

Coming up, a key U.S. ally vowing revenge after ISIS burns to death a caged Jordanian F-16 fighter pilot. King Abdullah, he's getting ready to meet in the next few moments with President Obama over the White House.

We're going to have all the breaking developments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)