Argo - A movie about the Canadian rescue of 6 Americans in Tehran back in 1980.
- Thread starter james t kirk
- Start date
Considering what happened to the American embassy, I think the actions of the Canadians in the embassy in which the Americans took refuge are worth some merit.
Ken Taylor got the heros welcome when he came back to Canada, but it was a CIA op that got the Americans out.
It doesn't change the fact that anyone in the U.S. who has two brain cells to rub against each other remains profoundly grateful for the very brave actions of the Canadian Ambassador and other diplomats in Tehran.
Definitely going to go see this movie!
Definitely going to go see this movie!
Agreed.
The CIA came up with the plan to get them the hell out there, but it was the Canadians who risked their very lives in harbouring them. If I recall, the Americans had been turned away from 2 other embassies before they knocked on the Canadian Embassy's door.
And, we were in on the act to spirit them to safety - fake passports, documents, etc.
Looks like an interesting movie.
No doubt, there was danger for everyone involved. Imagine if this information was known as the embassy staff arrived back in the USA. Kenny would be pushed into the background and forgotten.
I am not much of a movie goer anymore, I will wait 10-12 months and it will show up on the sat channels.
Doubtless several reasons: intelligence agencies don't like to talk about successful operations for many years as doing so may well compromise current operations and agents. As said there was profound gratitude for the actions of the Canadian Diplomats in Iran and the Ministry of External Affairs, without them having been willing to risk their lives - none of this would have been possible!
You may recall that it was a great time to be a Canadian in the U.S.A.
I do not recall, as I was very young at the time. I know the story through the made for TV movie that they had in Canada a few years after the event. The movie depicted Ken Taylor as the mastermind of the operation.
It was actually the press that broke the story period.
At the time, (and I rememember when it happened), the plan was not to even release to the media the very fact that 6 Americans had gotten out of Iran in the first place for fear of retributions to those still in captivity. However, the media, which was aware that Canada was harbouring 6 Americans prior to getting them out, could not contain itself any further and they broke the story. If the story had gotten out that the CIA had actually been involved in the rescue it would have meant executions for sure. The Iranians could handle being hoodwinked by Canadians, but not being fooled by the CIA.
The other truth is that no doubt several Iranians were on to the fact that Canada was harbouring 6 Americans and their consience got the better of them and they decided not to arrest them because they thought it was fucked up what was going on in the first place. That said, there were plenty of Iranians who would have loved to have seen every last person involved stoned to death.
At the time, (and I rememember when it happened), the plan was not to even release to the media the very fact that 6 Americans had gotten out of Iran in the first place for fear of retributions to those still in captivity. However, the media, which was aware that Canada was harbouring 6 Americans prior to getting them out, could not contain itself any further and they broke the story. If the story had gotten out that the CIA had actually been involved in the rescue it would have meant executions for sure. The Iranians could handle being hoodwinked by Canadians, but not being fooled by the CIA.
The other truth is that no doubt several Iranians were on to the fact that Canada was harbouring 6 Americans and their consience got the better of them and they decided not to arrest them because they thought it was fucked up what was going on in the first place. That said, there were plenty of Iranians who would have loved to have seen every last person involved stoned to death.
I had forgotten that part of things. Of course, how utterly typical of the "Fourth Estate."
Yes it was. I was in San Francisco and all you had to do was show a Canadian passport and most tourist attractions let you in for free. People were thanking me on the streets.
Finally bothered to look this up. They were heading to the British Embassy, but there was another "student riot" taking place around it, so they ending up going to the apartment of one of them, from there they made contact with the Canadian Embassy.
Dunno about that, but according to this, one American was staying with Swedish diplomats, but they ended up passing him to the Canadians figuring that he would have less trouble posing as a Canadian.
http://international.gc.ca/history-histoire/people-gens/ken_taylor.aspx?lang=eng&view=d
Which has what to do with the U.S. being grateful for the actions of the diplomats of the Canadian Embassy in Tehran who quite literally put their lives on the line for their neighbors.
As to the first paragraph, how rude.
I heard that the diplomatic consequences of the Iran caper is that now the US embassies around the world will help Canadians in times of need in the absence of a Canadian mission. This was never the case before as they were always sent off to the British embassies.
You do know that Reagan's politcal team negotiated in secret with the Iranians prior to the election of 1980 and offered the Iranians Weapons in return for releasing the hostages after the election? Reagan wanted to make Carter look bad and used it to win the election. Supposedly, the Iranians were going to let the hostages go a few months prior to the election, but Reagan's people told the Iranians, "you hold them until after the election and we'll sell you all the weapons you want" (Something Carter had refused to do.) Reagan just says the whole thing was just a coincidence.
