What is Digg?52 Comments
- riquiscott, on 10/12/2007, -9/+65Absolutely fascinating! Amazing - now I am beginning to wonder how many other things like this I don't know about. And how many I will NEVER know about. Sort of restores some of my faith that the government might actually still care about its people in foreign lands doing dangerous things. Some, not all.
Thanks for posting it - most interesting thing I have read all day. - Fedallah, on 10/12/2007, -4/+44That's okay. Those of us who have an attention span greater than that of a gnat will enjoy it.
- VaporBro, on 10/26/2007, -3/+27...:roll:...? Can you please stop being such a *****' douche? Thanks.
- gldfshnpcklejar, on 10/12/2007, -8/+28Debbie does Tehran?
- gsenechal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17Just to correct the note about the "Canadian Caper"...
The Canadians only provided a cover for the US operation, and the CIA did all the planning. As a Canadian, I was always proud of the fact that we helped out so much, but the extent of our involvement was exaggerated at the request of the CIA.
Unfortunately I can't find a free link to a supporting story, but the headlines on this Google News archive search provide a glimpse into the real story.
http://news.google.ca/archivesearch?q=ken+taylor+iran&btnG=Search+Archives&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1 - Ajajadude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18Let's hope you're done with school, otherwise you're screwed.
Very interesting read, I loved it, and even my attention issues didn't interfere. - Glugory, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16Holy ***** that was awesome. Someone should write a script out of THAT and make it a movie.
- memorex386, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10@doogly
I stopped reading your comment after aaahhhhhh, tooooooooo loooooo..... - Layne, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I enjoyed how the Iranians were screaming "THIS IS ILLEGAL!!!" when they found out that some hostages escaped. They didn't seem too concerned about that when they stormed an embassy. What sore losers.
- tipexy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9that okay, some of us can read quite quickly, and our lips don't even get tired. That how you can identify us as intellectuals.
- zorak11, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Good read!
- emjaymj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5It was an entertaining read but the submitter used an awful description.
- lewzer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Great read. The amount of planning and detail that went into the cover story is amazing.
- foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7That dude had the guts to infiltrate Iran...
I commend thy spirit. - radu79, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Yes, very good story, couldn't stop reading.
- Mr2Bits85, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5IF you enjoyed this story you should check out the book "On Wings of Eagles" by Ken Follett. It is about the rescue operation Ross Perot coordinated for some of his workers in Iran that is referenced in the article. I recently read it and think the book is very similar to this story.
http://www.amazon.com/Wings-Eagles-Ken-Follett/dp/0451163532 - vroom101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Even though we U.S. citizens were mildly spanked in the comments at http://digg.com/world_news/Canadian_Military_Reinforces_Arctic_Claim -- I for one welcome our Canadian . . . neighbors. (oh come on diggers, did you really think I'd use the "O" word to describe the USA/my neighbor to the north?)
Canada, thanks again for helping us out during that awful Iran hostage crisis. - sovereign3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Antonio Mendez's book covers all of the story that was previously classified. It's only been declassified in the last several years.
Master of Disguise
Antonio Mendez
http://www.amazon.com/Master-Disguise-Secret-Life-CIA/dp/0060957913/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-8084451-1215002?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177507418&sr=8-1
The Canadians were quite helpful because not only did they provide a safe refuge for the hunted Americans at their embassy in Tehran, but they also granted us permission to forge identities for the Americans using their passports. This is crucial because it is illegal to create Canadian passports and we needed their express permission. The Canadians played a crucial role, but ultimately it was the planning of Mendez's team that lead to their escape from the country.
If you want all the intimate details or want to read more Mendez's work in Moscow, Laos, and elsewhere, I recommend his book. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4 Mendez married another CIA disguise operative and they wrote a book together called "Spy Dust"
If you liked this story you'll love the book, it has come cool stuff in it culminating in a big switcheroo operation in Russia.
One cool detail is that they worked with a group of Hollywood makeup artists and magicians called the wizards to help them develop deceptions and techniques. I'll bet Penn Gillette is one of them. - kipcrist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@pagit
Did you not read the article? It is about the story you linked....and talks about all the help from the Canadian government and Canadian embassy. - scairborn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5That story was ***** awesome! And not to mention the art that went along with the story that was done Movie Storyboard Style was great too!
- ianmccoy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3people really DO care? of course!
i'm starting to think it's the red tape that is keeping so many of us at odds. - knodi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Damn that was so freaking bad ass. Should make a good movie out of it.
- smithro1984, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2What happened to others who were captured and sent back to the embassy?
- CrazyNorman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Its amazing that even with all of the resources of the US government at our disposal, we had no way to account for a white matching form, and therefore rest a huge part of the mission's success on luck alone.
If the Iranian custom's officer had been a little lazy, that would be 11 executed Americans... - betterth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2So, with all our resources, we should have fabricated a white document, infiltrated the airport record rooms or in some way have a mole plant the falsified documents carrying the ultra significant risk of detection by the ever-watchful and trigger happy revolutionary guards?
- Captbob007, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I wanna work for the CIA!
- sid0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Dugg for the Ross Perot reference -- On Wings of Eagles was an outstanding book.
- flukeman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Discovery Channel have previously aired (several times) a documentary called "The Master of Deception" where Mendez' story are reconstructed. Quite fascinating really.
His stories have also been recreated in many other documentaries as well. Here's a quote from Mendez' wikipedia page:
"To date, Mendez has been a part of 22 different documentaries, including works for Discovery, Travel Channel, the Canadian History Channel, AMC and a PBS piece entitled "Escape from Iran; The Hollywood Connection" (tapes available) which most recently aired marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Iranian Hostage Crisis . Two for Travel Channel include "Secrets of the International Spy Museum" and "Washington DC; City of Spies." Work for Discovery Channel includes a one hour show entitled "The Master of Deception" which chronicled the espionage exploits of Mendez and his wife, Jonna, who was also Chief of Disguise and worked at CIA for twenty-seven years."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_J._Mendez - CommissarVlad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Cool story, I wonder how many times things like that happen every day.
- AsinineDervish, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4They get out, nobody dead. Us 6, them 52?
- icon7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1man that was a long read, but a good one.
- tipexy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm working for EDS now, sure wish someone would rescue me.
- thebigkevdogg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1awesome read! highly recommended!
- caution, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Agreed. We (the US) gutted the non-military human intelligence community for far too long, and it takes years to rebuild.
Of course, MNF-I has a YouTube site, so things are just peachy (http://www.youtube.com/MNFIRAQ) - chetanw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Great story - How about shooting a mega-movie in Baghdad and getting our lads out of there now?
- supermajic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1bad ass.
- garagetrogg, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0To the people who wonder if this type of ***** is still going on...
- Bajeda, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1http://www.whale.to/b/ruppert1.html
http://www.lycaeum.org/drugwar/DARKALLIANCE/ciaheron.html
Theres plenty of other fun stuff the CIA did in those days that you can look at. They may have had a few good PR stories, but otherwise they were just as ***** up as they are now. - Kyan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1You what's really interesting is the cooperation between Hollywood and the CIA - ultra liberal and ultra conservative! I'd've never thunk it!
- mcottier, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Afterwards they should have just kept the company established, and make some movies and money to pay back the costs of the operation, plus it would be another company created so it would create more jobs. Also if you think about it, it is more suspicious to just get rid of the company immediately after, then if you kept it running and making money.
Heck, like another poster stated, they could have made that experience into a movie! - guice, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Still? I admit, it's a great story. Too bad it's also 30 years old. :(
I wonder if they are still doing things like this today. But, I'm doubtful. - pyrator, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Here's a picture of the poster used to advertise the 'movie' (http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/winter99-00/pg07.gif)
- pagit, on 10/25/2007, -5/+3then there were the Canadians who rescued Americans our of Iran
From Time 1980:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950226,00.html - Malarie, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1TLDR
- andyman1, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1I read this and can't help but go all tinfoil hat and think that this story, too, is a cover up for some sneaky sneaky CIA work. Brilliant!
- cupajoe60, on 10/12/2007, -9/+4sick story
- kody_b, on 10/12/2007, -15/+4This is otherwise known as the Canadian Caper http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_caper, a proud day for Canada rescuing everyones butts again
- JrGhoull, on 10/12/2007, -15/+1this kinda reminds me of the movie "the last shot" wih Matthew Broderick
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