Minggu, 11 November 2012

The movie Argo is entertaining but not that accurate



I saw Ben Affleck's film Argo last night and I thought it was an excellent thriller built around an actual historical event.  But I was also disappointed about the Hollywood treatment.

The film made the CIA and Hollywood film makers as the central characters of the scheme to smuggle American embassy employees out of Iran and relegated the Canadians involved as backdrop.  The truth is that it was Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor that made it possible for the Americans to escape.

A minor detail but the six Americans who walked out of the Embassy as it was being stormed did not walk over to the residence of Ken Taylor.  Lee Schatz took refuge in the Swedish Embassy.  The other five made their way to Robert Anders' residence.  Only four days did the Americans call the Canadians to ask for assistance.  Taylor immediately agreed and split the group up putting three Americans in the residence of Chief Immigration Officer, John Sheardown and two in his own home.
Taylor met with Bruce Laingen, the U.S. Chargé d'Affaires, who was in "protective custody" at the Iranian foreign ministry, which he had been visiting at the time of the Embassy attack. Taylor readily acted as a channel of communications between Laingen and Washington.  Taylor even scouted out potential landing spots for helicopters in Tehran in case a rescue was attempted. Finally, the Canadian Embassy transmitted messages for two undercover CIA agents.

Three weeks later Taylor received a call from the Swedish Ambassador asking him to shelter Lee Schatz, the sixth American escapee, who had been staying with a Swedish diplomat. The Ambassador felt that Schatz could more easily pass as a Canadian and would be safer in Canadian hands.

The story leaked to the Canadian media which was pressured to not report the story.  One particular media outlet found it hard to believe that the Americans did not know exactly how many people they had in Tehran and they concluded that some had escaped.  It was assumed that the Americans were being helped by Canada and contacted the Embassy for confirmation.  As a result Taylor arranged for the rental of a safe house, where the Americans could hide if the story broke. He counted on having two to three hours to make his arrangements before the Iranians appeared at the Embassy.

It's true that Anontio Mendez, a CIA operative worked with the Canadian government to get documents for the hidden Americans and set up a bogus film-making trip to Tehran.   On Taylor's advice, it was decided that the only way out of Iran was through the airport on a regularly scheduled flight.

Meanwhile, the process of slowly closing down the Canadian Embassy started. Staff members gradually began to depart, the last classified documents were shredded, and unclassified material moved to the New Zealand Embassy.

Important information on security procedures at the airport was provided by couriers and departing members of the Embassy staff - it did not come from the CIA . Forged Iranian exit and entry visas and passport stamps were prepared in the United States and sent by Canadian courier to Tehran.

Six seats were booked on a Swissair flight leaving the morning of January 27, a Sunday. As a backup, seats were also booked on subsequent KLM, Air France, and British Airways flights. The six passed through airport security and immigration checks with no difficulty. The film showed Revolutionary Guards chasing the plane as it took off.  That never happened.  The rest of the Canadian Embassy staff left later that day.

Taylor was a hero on both sides of the border after the story broke.  Washington awarded Taylor the Congressional Gold Medal. 

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