Strange Bedfellows

Iran, Bin Laden, and 'Feathered Cocaine'

Max Fisher 91 Views May 5, 2010
ABC's George Stephanopoulos is not the only one wondering about the rumors that Osama bin Laden lives in Tehran. A documentary about the sport of falconry called Feathered Cocaine wanders a bit off topic to suggest that bin Laden is living comfortably with family in the north of Iran's capital city. The Australia News' Ed Barnes reports:

Alan Parrot, the film's subject and one of the world's foremost falconers, makes the case that bin Laden, an avid falcon hunter is pursuing the sport relatively freely in Tehran.

Parrot, who was once the chief falconer for the Shah of Iran and who has worked for the royal families of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, used his contacts in Iran to talk about bin Laden's life there. One of those contacts, described as a warlord from the north of Iran and disguised in a balaclava, reveals in the film that he has met bin Laden six times on hunting trips inside Iran since March 2003.

He says the world's most wanted terrorist is relaxed and healthy and so comfortable that “he travels with only four bodyguards.”

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