leaning heavily on egypt for support in the war on terror. americans have a good friend. reporter: it would have been a bad time to bring up a minor issue, like the kidnapping of michael shannon s two boys by the family with ties to egypt s president. suddenly, michael shannon felt very alone. and in the letter from his ex s sister, michael shannon was told, given up. force and bad tactics will only serve to put you farthest away from your objective, she writes. the children need to be with their mother. this is islamic law, and finally, she wrote, please, don t worry about them. you should be happy for them. michael shan snon s fight was oy beginning.