jacque chirac came to america, tony blair came to america after 9/11.t would have been nice to see very high-level american representation. i am hesitant to say it because it is not all about us and i am not sure how many people in france are right now preoccupied with the question of why did not obama come because not everything is about us. on the other hand, it does seem like it would have been an appropriate gesture and the white house is suggesting that maybe they should have made a different decision. >> he did suggest that. in the press briefing today. my question is beyond that which i asked, does it say something about this white house and this president that they did not understand the moment? >> i think it was david axelrod who very recently said that sometimes the president -- this is something coming from david axelrod, one of his closest advisers. sometimes he does not understand the symbolism or the optics but sometimes the president himself and maybe the people around him are not as attentive to the way things appear. ultimately, though,

because if you remember after september 11 when president jacque chirac was the first to come and visit. after this massive attack. well actually in this circumstance on the other hand what we can say is that the visit was extremely rushed for leaders and we all know that the u.s. is having very strict security and safety rules. and that obviously i would say moving the u.s. president in this place in such a record time would have been hazardous as much as it was for the others. >> cnn national security analyst bob baer did not hold back when asked his opinion. >> security in a situation like this is -- depends on the host government and that would be the french. you know keeping standoff convoys. the secret service is close protection but the real true protection is provided by the french and they're clearly capable of doing that. i think there was zero risk to the president. and i think it's a huge mistake because the french are key partners in the so-called war on terror and they are crucial for the fight in africa against al qaeda. they're also very important in fighting isis and sy

importantly the first international visitor to the white house after 9/11 was the president of france jacques chirac. he had previously scheduled a visit and within a week after he was there. he didn't hold back because there were more terrorism threats. he came. and that's what's important sometimes at moments when your friends are in trouble. so though while publicly there may be an expression of understanding, do you think behind closed doors there are some bruises that have resulted from this decision by the white house? >> hard to say exactly. people in the massive crowd were not particularly bothered by it but it's one of those issues that it does matter and it especially matters as it comes to -- as the united states will in the future, repeatedly ask france and others to stand with us when they're attacked we need to stand with them. >> david gergen thank you so much. >> thanks to you, fredricka. >>> this deadly attack in paris may have shown us the new face of terror, so to speak. why are so many heading to syria to join isis in particularly from france? we'll talk with an expert. is your h

you remember jacques chirac was the first leader to visit the united states after 9/11. as you mentioned earlier, our first and one of our biggest supporters. is this going to change the relationship? >> oh no. there's very strong cooperation, there always was. even during the height of the iraq war when the french disagreed with the united states on the iraq war, they were still very good allies. the french are very tough on counterterrorism. people have the impression that because this has happened, france is lax, but they're not. they're very tough. so i think they'll probably be as supportive. >> what about the idea that president obama, the administration is showing its support more directly by helping in the fight against terrorism by drone strikes and by other initiatives rather than just going as a symbolic act to paris to take part in this? what about that? >> i think the flaw in that thinking is to think of it as just a symbolic act. this is a case some symbolism is substance. because so much of the way that people think about these issues are, you know it's a

jacques chirac didn't do that. went after this newspaper. >> well, our president should be a leader. and he should be rallying this country to fight islam. i may be just an old retired cop, but i'll tell you one thing, the obvious thing is we are at war with islam because islam's at war with us. when you look at when it comes into our borders, it is now up to law enforcement, the fbi, the intelligence task forces they put together. but really the profiling's all done. the muslims have profiled themgs. the mosque is the center of their life, the recruitment the radicalization, their contacts. all you have to do is watch, surveil, wiretap, a mosque document everybody that comes in and out. start following them, find out who they are and where they're going. and you can probably get somewhere. >> do that in every mosque in america? >> every mosque in america. if you don't do it, what do you think they're doing to us? we look like fools. we are running from one terrorist attack to another trying to put our finger in th

and you just remember that, jacques chirac, the first president of the world came to new york.the first -- the first sign that a president in the world did, was barack obama. he came to the french embassy. we never forget that. thank you, america. >> i am so sorry for your loss, of your friend, and thank you for being with us. luc as well. thank you very much. just ahead, more on what has been an extraordinary day here. other big developments including the possibility that, retired general david peraeus will face criminal charges, a huge surprise to a lot of people. that when we come back. and we'll even get you started with 10gb of free 4g lte data. female announcer: during sleep train's hugeom foyear end clearance sale,s! get beautyrest, posturepedic, even tempur-pedic mattress sets at low clearance prices. save even more on floor samples, demonstrators, and closeout inventory. plus, free same-day delivery, set-up, and removal of your old set. why wait for the new models? sleep train's year end clearance sale is on now! ...guaranteed! ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪

back in 2006 the french president jacques chirac criticized him.o shock or offend. this is what we do. we are trying to satirize the absurdity of who is going on in the extreme corners of this religion. it's interesting to close out the program with a reflection of what the editor recently said. he basically said this will only shock those who want to be shocked and told a newspaper, i don't feel as though i'm killing someone with a pen. i'm not putting lives at risks. when activists need a pretext to justify their violence they always find it and this on this day, these activists found their targets and their targets were journalists. this was a clear attack on the freedom of expression on press, and on satire. >> it's so profound to hear the words now that we know ten journalists inside the office were killed including the editor-in-chief and we heard that the gunmen upon leaving said "charlie hebdo" is dead. >> it's a very sad day not just for terror and law enforcement and the loss of human life but it's a very sad day for what this means to fr