Stay updated with breaking news from Bechtel egypt. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
as an american citizen whose tax dollars go over there, is there no way we can say to egypt you want $3 billion a year for your military? give us back these 22 kids that are american citizens. well, i would argue that we have a very complex relationship that goes beyond military aid. we are trying to work with egypt s government as they transition to democracy to encourage all kinds of new practices. and one of them would be adherence to the hague convention or to recognize u.s. court orders. and we ll continue to urge them to do that. but i don t think we re going to just say, you know, we re through with you if you don t do this one thing because we have many things that we want them to do. this is one of them. reporter: michael shannon has heard that same explanation for more than a decade. and all that time he has been fighting the court case back in maryland michael s sons have ....
Correspondent drew griffin with kidnapped to egypt: a father s nightmare. reporter: it is all michael shannon has left of his sons. a final picture. adam at 4, jason just 10 months. i can t stop picturing them as a 4 and a 1-year-old, or a 5-year-old and a 1-year-old. and i ve had no photos, and i m trying to imagine what they would look like at 16 and 12. and hoping that they don t hate me for not saving them. patty cake. patty cake. baker s man. reporter: this is a story you could tell a thousand times over. an international kidnapping to egypt. a country that takes in billions of dollars in aid from the ....
sure. of course. i got to travel to zurich and stay at a chalet and spent three weeks in sharm el-sheikh in cairo and alexandria. in a $3 million mansion in el alamein on the mediterranean. and her father wanted me to stay there. reporter: osama khalifa was very successful. chairman of bechtel egypt. he sat on several egyptian government boards of the then dictator hosni mubarak. and he still runs his financial and banking consulting firm near the family apartment building he owns. but one thing osama khalifa did not have was a grandson to take over his empire. he wanted grandsons. oh, yeah. he had four daughters and six granddaughters and no male children. reporter: but that changed soon after nermeen and michael were married. come. reporter: adam shannon was born on february 2nd, 1997. ....
Time. he says, when are you and poppop coming to get me? and i said as soon as we can. reporter: shannon had every intention of doing just that. heading to egypt armed with the law on his side, and bringing his boys home. then he called the state department for help. but officials there said, there was nothing they do do. . you ve seen no photos? nothing. state department won t get any, because they said that the family won t allow it. it s intrusive. i ve asked for welfare and wellnewell ne ness checks and the embassy writes letters to the family and the family simply refuses them. the people who knocked these buildings down will larry ahear us soon. reporter: there may have been another reason for the state department s lack of interest. in late 2001 and early 2002, the aftermath of 9/11, the unite was ....
Sons and silence here for years. only once agreeing to an interview with an arab media outlet. [ speaking in foreign language ] she s refused all requests from the west, until now. hello? reporter: hi, nermeen, this is drew griffin from cnn. rerefused to meet with us but agreed it was time to talk, at least by phone. hear my point of view. okay. reporter: her story is a completely different account of the marriage, the kidnapping and the u.s. court record on the case, and though it may sound farfetched in the united states, in egypt and in the middle east, it is easily believed, that the entire u.s. justice system conspired against her. nermeen khalifa tells us it was not she that was the abuser, ....