correspondent sharif abdel kouddous in cairo, egypt.hen we come back, he talks about his family's history of activism and dissent, including his father and his sister. i university students who join political protest have come under increasing attack at about the future of egypt. all in a moment. ♪ [music break] >> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. our exclusive interview with egyptian political activist alaa abd el-fattah. sharif abdel kouddous spoke to him in cairo, egypt this week and in his first interview after being released from prison. >> there's a rich tradition of activism and dissent in your family, both your sisters are very politically active, your cousin is politically active on and so are your parents. your father was in prison several times. one of which, your younger sister mona was born during. this past -- path was repeated son, was bornyour what you are in prison. at a press conference, talking about the crackdown on protesters, he said "i'm sorry, my son, i'm sorry

sharif abdel kouddous, thank you so much.when we come back, we will look at saudi arabia with patrick cockburn in london. stay with us. ♪ [music break] >> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. al qaeda second act. why the global war on terror went wrong. that is the name of the new five-part series published in the uk's independent newspaper that examines the resurgence of jihadists across the middle east. the key part of the series examines how saudi arabia has openly backed legit groups in syria, iraq, and other countries. many analyst say the conflict has grown into a proxy war between saudi arabia and iran. saudi arabia's history backing jihadist groups goes back decades. 15 of the 19 september 11 hijackers were saudi. the 9/11 commission report identified saudi arabia as the main source of al qaeda financing. wikileaks published u.s. diplomatic cables which identified saudi arabia as the world's largest source of funds for islamist militant groups. >> is

sharif abdel kouddous and i interviewed tony benn in 2009, one day after he led a protest against thean in london. at the lower -- at the rally, he and others read the names of those killed in the afghan war. >> well, it was a solemn occasion when the names were read. you see, i think you have to understand history. written and dated afghanistan in 1839, captured kabul, and was defeated the following year and 15,000 british troops were killed. britain invaded afghanistan in 1879. britain was in afghanistan in 1919. the russians were in afghanistan to protest that. united states government, president bush, the first one, by the russians to get them out of afghanistan. the situation we're in now is very straightforward. the united states and nato, 40 inntries with 64,000 troops eight years, have been unable to defeat the taliban and. this is the vietnam war for america. and for the rest -- well, for the people involved, soldiers and civilians, it is an absolute tragedy. >> and obama defended the war yesterday, calling it a war of necessity. your response to that? >> i think you have to