Does Iran Harbor Osama bin Laden?

Osama Bin Laden is in Iran, asserts Alan Howell Parrot, the director of The Union for the Conservation of Raptors (UCR), who for many years served as a Falconer for the rulers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and members of Saudi Royal family. In that capacity he was a regular guest in the seasonal Falconry-hunting  camps and had access to all participants. Parrot has been offering evidence of Bin Laden's sighting in Iran since November 2004 to a great number of U.S. government officials at the Department of Defense, the FBI, Senators and even to the former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Gen. Michael V. Hayden. Government officials who asked to remain nameless confirmed Parrot's contact with the government. Still, no one responded.
 
Parrot's passion to save the falcons led him and his expert team to bin Laden.

In November 2004 a UCR field operator in Iran happened to meet bin Laden. Parrot brought the very detailed and seemingly convincing evidence to my attention. I then introduced him to former senior US military officials. Between November 2004 and January 2009 Parrot says he has "diligently reported UCR meetings with Bin Laden in Iran to U.S. government agencies. At no time did the Bush Administration request interviews with any of the UCR field operators who tracked and met bin Laden in Iran." Parrot provided accounts of bin Laden's movement and details of six meetings UCR's operators had with bin Laden in Iran; some were held near Zehedan, in Southern Iran, others in a safe house North of Tehran and in Mashhad. This information was confirmed during a debriefing by an expert interrogator on march 2008.

Falconry is so popular in the Middle East that the founder of the Saudi kingdom, Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud, was known as "the Falcon of the Peninsula" (Al Saqr al Jazira). Saudi Prince Fahd bin Sultan described Falconry as the Arabs' "form of golf, a place to relax and conduct business.''

Falconry is a 2,000-year-old tradition among Arabs, especially princes and sheikhs. They gather several times a year in well- equipped hunting camps in the Arabian deserts, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, among other places, to hunt with falcons that cost $100,000 and in some cases more than $2 million. Not surprisingly, the illegal trade in falcons is valued at more than $300 million annually.

Bin Laden is also known as an avid Falconer. Former White House counterterrorism advisor Richard Clarke told the 9/11 Commission that in 1999 the U.S. "planned to bomb a Falconry camp in Pakistan when Osama bin Laden was present." That raid, however, "was scrubbed because a minister from the United Arab Emirates was a member of the hunting party."

Parrot's story is as unconventional as he is. A Falconer who, in 1974, just 18 years old, began his career training hunting falcons for the Shah of Iran. He excelled in his work and was retained by wealthy Arabs in Kuwait and the Gulf States who flew him regularly from Ithaca, NY -- he studied biology at Cornell University -- to the Middle East. He left school after 3 years in favor of trapping and training falcons for UAE president and Abu Dhabi's ruler Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayyan. From 1981 - 1991 he continued to work for Zayed, who hosted him in his many palaces, where Parrot met and befriended many of the ruler's guests. Sheikh Zayed's recommendation opened doors to employment with other Arab leaders. Parrot also worked for Saudi Crown Prince -- now King -- Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.

A true bird lover, Parrot could not tolerate the illegal smuggling and abuse of falcons he witnessed the world over. Thus, from 1978 -1984 he volunteered to participate as a civilian undercover agent in "Operation Falcon," conducted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS), to stop the multi-million dollar international smuggling of North American falcons to the Middle East. That operation resulted in the arrest of 300+ falcon smugglers the world over. Parrot also helped stop Prince Bandar, the former Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., from smuggling falcons from the U.S. on board a Royal Saudi Airlines charted plane. Bandar paid his $150,000 fine to the Department of Justice, from his Washington DC Riggs Bank account. It was the same account which Bandar's wife used to pay two of the 9/11 hijackers. True to form, Bandar threatened the U.S. government with oil sanctions if the story leaked; not surprisingly, the public remained in the dark.  

In praise of his work in Operation Falcon, Parrot received two letters of commendation from the Canadian government. Together with a dedicated team of like-minded falcon lovers, Parrot continued to collect evidence on falcon smuggling throughout Central Asia, Russia, China, and the Middle East. In 2001 he established The Union for the Conservation of Raptors (UCR), a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization. Its mandate pertains "to the conservation and sustainable management of raptors, with specialized expertise on Middle East falconry practices and smuggling cartels with operational linkage to al-Qaeda."

Over the years, Parrot witnessed how the Secretariat for the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has violated its own mandate to protect the birds by licensing illegal trade in sport-falcons to Arab rulers and sheikhs. This led to the creation of 'five star' tented cities erected throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, and Afghanistan, like the royal falconry camp that served as Al Qaeda's de-facto 'Board room,' referenced in the 9/11 Commission Report.
 
Encouraged by president-elect Barack Obama's statement on January 14, in an interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric, that his "preference obviously would be to capture or kill him [Bin Laden]", Parrot sent a letter to the Rewards for Justice program at the State Department detailing his efforts to track Bin Laden and providing information of bin Laden's whereabouts. Parrot also noted that he had discussed the matter with Iranian officials and that "a negotiated and political (i.e. not-military) solution is available" with the Iranian leadership. The letter was sent on January 20, but Parrot has yet to hear from Washington.
 
Parrot claims that he has negotiated with Iranian officials the transfer of bin Laden from Iran "to the custody of the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Saud al Faisal, whom I know personally," he said.
 
Since no one seems to know where bin Laden is located, why not explore Mr. Perrot's claims?

Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld author of Funding Evil; How Terrorism is Financed - and How to Stop It, is director of American Center for Democracy.

Comments

[skialethia]

Parrot forgot to mention one little detail: He spotted Elvis too!

[truthynesslover]

your kidding right?

[BiBiJan]

Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld:

Iran does have to consider how Germany, Italy, China, Russia, India, Brazil, etc. would view Iran giving sanctuary to an evil doer, and weigh that against the benefits. What exactly would be those benefits?

Would you please respond to the following:

Al-Qaeda sees Persian Shi'a Iran as part of the American crusade against Muslims:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/09/200898124913695268.html

Iranians are fond of Americans:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/12/opinion/the-best-of-enemies.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/world/middleeast/13iran.html?_r=1

Iranian government has been at logger heads with Al-Qaeda/Taliban for a long time:
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/11/world/iran-holds-taliban-responsible-for-9-diplomats-deaths.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Iranian government helped US confront Al-Qaeda/Taliban:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/07/world/main4508360.shtml

Thank you in advance for your kind attention.

[skialethia]

...and I'll add to that...There's nothing like associating Public Enemy Number 1 with a country you want to de mon ize in order to sway American public opinion in favor of attacking it, especially now that Iran just discovered billions more barrels of oil on untapped land. China and India are celebrating.

If they had alleged in 2002-03 that Saddam was hiding OBL in Iraq we would have laughed them off the stage and we wouldn't be mired there like we are...so of course they had to scale it down, and the more believable story became: Saddam is hiding Zarqawi and helping al-qaeda.

Once bitten, twice shy.

[Renee27]

I thought he was in Iraq? Wow, you learn something new everyday

[serena1313]

Given that like Iraq, Iran is predominately Shiite and Saudi-Arabia is predominately Sunni, as is the rest of the Muslim world, it is highly unlikely Iran would harbour bin-Ladin. Furthermore if Parrot was credible or had reliable information the intelligent agencies would have investigated or perhaps did and found nothing.

Consider, too, that there is absolutely no solid evidence bin-Ladin initiated the 911 attacks. He never admitted it. In contrast after every attack an individual or group publicly takes credit. Yet immediately following the attacks Bush accused bin-Ladin of being the mastermind and from that point on it was taken for granted.

Last we do not even know if bin-Ladin is still alive. Bhutto, during one of her last interviews, mentioned bin-Ladin had been murdered. Several years ago a few Middle-Eastern newspapers had announced bin-Ladin's death, but of course no mention of it was made by the Western press. Whether true or not, who knows.

Nevertheless I feel confident that if there was any truth to Parrot's story it would have surfaced by now. So let's not waste time chasing ghosts.

[sja11]

actually Iran has hated us for almost 30 years, I forgot

[BiBiJan]

From Ny Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/12/opinion/the-best-of-enemies.html
"Quick quiz: Which Muslim Middle East country held spontaneous candlelight vigils in sympathy with Americans after Sept. 11? Kuwait? No. Saudi Arabia? No. Iran? Yes. You got it! You win a free trip to Iran. And if you come you'll discover not only a Muslim country where many people were sincerely sympathetic to America after Sept. 11"

[i5kfun]

So your saying things turned once our president labled them as part of the Axis of Evil? Hmmm how odd that a phrase like that would tick off a whole county.

Snark.

[Hirnlego]

No. Since 1953

[yappnmutt]

thank you for the humor.

[RockySoldier]

'Does Iran Harbor Osama bin Laden?'

-No. Pakistan does.

Thank you for your time.

[Labelmonkey]

Why does anyone believe this guy is still alive? There hasn't been any evidence that he survived the bombing in Tora Bora. Before Tora Bora you couldn't get this guy away from a camera. Since, not a single video, only audio tapes served up with the caveat that the authenticity of the tape cannot be independently verified. Of course it can't. Dude is dead.

It serves extremists on both sides very well that everyone continues to believe he's alive. We are sheep.

[SpaceElevator]

BiBiJan is right. Everyone forgot what happened the weekend before 9-11.

The Iranians hated Bin Ladin and the Taliban. They were some of the first to lend assistance after 9-11 in locating Bin Ladin.

See: http://www.issi.org.pk/journal/2002_files/no_3/article/8a.htm

Why all of a sudden would they harbor him? The web seems flooded with the same Neo-con BS today.

Lets say the Iranians obtained 5 medium range nuclear armed missles. What exactly would they do with them? Shoot them at Israel? That would be dumb, because it would be a 40 to one exchange. Iran would be leveled. Do you really think they are that stupid? The Iranians at least went through the motions of signing the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Our pals the Israelis did not.

[RRG64]

Are WMD`s there too? Is someone looking for another reason to keep the wheels of the MIC turning?

[dave1111]

Just ask John McCain, he said he knew how to find OBL.

[RockySoldier]

that was only if he was president. but he lost, so he's not interested in helping us find bin laden anymore.

[perk]

If true, the CIA knows it already.

Paradoxically , the US has no desire to kill or try Osama. If killed, he becomes more powerful as a martyr, if tried, he may become more powerful as a defendant in the American justice system.

Saddam Hussein greatly increased his popularity during his trial in Iraq, can you imagine the press attention Osama Bin Ladin would receive in a courtroom in New York, the center of the news media universe!

No, Osama is best kept as a fugitive with limited access to the media. Like in the mountains of Pakistan. Killing or capturing him will serve no good purpose for the US.

[RockySoldier]

'No, Osama is best kept as a fugitive with limited access to the media. Like in the mountains of Pakistan. Killing or capturing him will serve no good purpose for the US.'

-i love it when people who have no expertise or authority to speak on matters insist on blurting out manifestos designed to subjugate real experts' ability to solve crises and problems. all the people spending their entire adult lives studying and researching these very problems would better spend their time listening to people like 'perk' who post their manifestos on internet message boards. sure, 'perk' doesn't need any EVIDENCE for their accusations against the CIA. see, perk has never been involved in any professional capacity with the US intelligence community, but his/her comments should be taken just as seriously. just listen to him/her- he/she will tell you what the REAL deal is!

[BiBiJan]

Also,
From Al-Jazeera English:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/09/200898124913695268.html
"Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's deputy leader, and other senior al-Qaeda commanders, focussed on what they called the "Iranian-Crusade alliance" saying the Muslim Umma [nation] was being targetted."

[BiBiJan]

Also,
From CBS News:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/07/world/main4508360.shtml
"Iran rounded up hundreds of Arabs to help the United States counter al-Qaida after the Sept. 11 attack after they crossed the border from Afghanistan, a former Bush administration official said Tuesday. Many were expelled, Hillary Mann Leverett said, and the Iranians made copies of almost 300 of their passports.

The copies were sent to Kofi Annan, then the secretary-general of the United Nations, who passed them to the United States, and U.S. interrogators were given a chance by Iran to question some of the detainees, Leverett said in an Associated Press interview.

James F. Dobbins, the Bush administration's chief negotiator on Afghanistan in late 2001, said Iran was "comprehensively helpful" in the aftermath of the 9-11 attack in 2001 in working to overthrow the Taliban militias' rule and collaborating with the United States to install the Karzai government in Kabul."

[OYea]

Oh THAT 9/11 Commission Report!

http://www.cfr.org/publication/7229/cordesman.html

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2004/10/0080234

Don't you mean the dead Tim Osman?

http://911­review.org­/brad.com/­archives/B­in-Ladin_T­im-Osman.h­tml

http://www.videonewslive.com/view/311104/who_is_tim_osman_aka__osama_bin_laden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnychOXj9Tg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBIthwLN0iI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kWkxh_Kn9Q

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=87982

http://www.archive.org/details/20041102-Last-Chance-911-Timeline

http://www.daily.pk/world/americas/9334-israeli-spokesman-says-we-control-stupid-americans.html

How about the TRUTH for a change?!

http://www­.911truth.­org/

[MajorKong]

It seems just a bit too convenient that we suddenly have "evidence" that Bin Laden is hiding in the country that just so happens to be the bad guy of the week.

[Hirnlego]

Hear hear.

[ikez78]

Great find Dr. Rachel. I am curious though why the connection between Iran's government and bin Laden wasn't given more attention as Parrot mentioned in other interviews. Is it because of the implications of the connections?

[nadin]

If you believe this, you won't believe what Elvis told me yesterday when I saw him at the bar talking to Tupac