Argo
Antonio Mendez and Matt Baglio
"The Most Audacious Rescue in History."
It was nearly a year and a half ago on November 4, 1979 that Iranians attacked the United States Embassy in Tehran. More than 50 hostages were taken but six escaped. Six American diplomats, Robert Anders, Cora Amburn-Lijeck, Mar Lijeck, Joseph Stafford, Kathleen Stafford, and Lee Schatz all escaped in midst of the attack. They all stayed in various places until they all got together and the Canadian ambassador took them all in. They stayed hidden for 79 days after that, all while over 50 people were still being held hostage at the U.S. embassy. Back in America, Tony Mendez, who worked for the CIA, was forming a plan to smuggle the six hidden Americans back into America that would soon be called "The most audacious rescue in history." The CIA wanted to exfiltrate them as soon as possible, before then Iranians figured out they were missing. Mendez's plan involved both the CIA and Hollywood working to pull off a huge, risky rescue. The plan was for Montez and his crew to pose as movie producers and actors that were scoping out a possible place to shoot their movie, Argo. they would fly into Iran and join up with the six hidden Americans. They would give them fake passports and copies of Argo's script. The six Americans would then join the movie crew and with the help of the Canadians, Mendez would smuggle them out of Tehran and into Switzerland until the whole hostage situation was cleared up. Early in the morning on Monday January 28, 1980, the six Americans made it through Mehrabad Airport secerity easily, but were delayed at little bit because of problems with their jet. They made it to Switzerland safely and thanks to Tony Mendez their lives were saved. Now, almost a year later, the remaining 52 Americans hostages in Tehran were realesed yesterday in exchange for 50 tons of gold. They spent 444 days in captivity.
Hollywood
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/2373862370/">kevin dooley</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc</a>
Passport
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sprengben/7497500748/">Sprengben [why not get a friend]</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a>
Airport
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucastheexperience/4097092685/">LucasTheExperience</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>
Vocabulary
Exfiltration- a gradual escape.
Diplomats- one employed in the art and practice of conducting negotiations between nations.
Ambassador- a diplomatic agent of the highest rank accredited to a foreign government or sovereign as the resident representative of his or her own government or sovereign or appointed for a special and often temporary diplomatic assignment.
Smuggle- to import or export secretly contrary to the law and especially without paying duties imposed by law.