Canadian Caper

For other agreements forged in Algiers, see Algiers Agreement (disambiguation).

Americans were grateful for Canadian efforts to rescue American diplomats during the Iran hostage crisis.

The "Canadian Caper" was the popular name given to the joint covert rescue by the Government of Canada and the United States Central Intelligence Agency of six American diplomats who evaded capture during the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran and taking of embassy personnel as hostages by the Iranians on November 4, 1979.

Sanctuary

Cora Amburn-Lijek, Mark Lijek, Joseph and Kathleen Stafford and Robert Anders were five of the six diplomats who were harbored and "exfiltrated" from Tehran in 1980. They were working in the consulate, a separate building on the embassy compound, when the students swarmed over the wall. Two groups of diplomats fled into Tehran's streets with orders to walk to the British Embassy. The Anders group, along with two Americans seeking services (one eventually obtained an exit visa and was able to get a plane out of Iran with the help of an embassy local employee). One group of diplomats, including Consul General Richard Morefield, took an indirect route and was soon captured and returned to the compound. The Anders group neared the British embassy but the Americans saw a huge crowd staging a protest in their path. Robert Anders asked the others if they would like to come home with him as he lived nearby. That began a six-day odyssey as they went from house to house aided by the Thai cook Sam and spent one night at the British residential compound. After three days the Bazargan government fell and everyone realized the ordeal would not be over in just a few days. Looking for options, Robert contacted his old friend Canadian Immigration officer John Sheardown, his tennis buddy, and received an enthusiastic blanket invitation for the group. After several more days during which their security situation deteriorated, on November 10 they went to the house of John and Zena Sheardown. John was outside watering the sidewalk with his garage door open so the car carrying the Americans could drive in with no one aware of the arrival of the new houseguests. They were greeted by Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor, who later took the Staffords to his residence where his wife Pat was waiting. The other three stayed with the Sheardowns and two weeks later, a sixth, Lee Schatz from the US Agriculture Department, joined the group. He had spent the interim sleeping initially on the floor at the Swedish embassy and later at the apartment of Swedish consul Cecilia Lithander. They would remain there for 79 days.

Movie poster created by the CIA as part of the cover story

The operation itself was initiated at great personal risk by then Canadian ambassador to Iran, Ken Taylor, and Canadian Immigration officer John Sheardown who provided sanctuary in their own private residences for the six endangered American diplomats. Two "friendly-country" embassy officials assisted as well, and an unoccupied diplomatic residence was used for several weeks.

Ambassador Taylor contacted then Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs, Flora MacDonald and Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark for assistance, who expressed support for the effort. They decided to smuggle the six Americans out of Iran on an international flight using Canadian passports. To do so, an Order in Council was made for the issuance of Canadian passports to the American diplomats in Canadian sanctuary. The granted passports contained a set of forged Iranian visas prepared by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency that would be used to attempt an escape from Iran.

The CIA enlisted its disguise and exfiltration expert, Tony Mendez, to provide a cover story, documents, and appropriate clothing and materials to change their appearance. Mendez worked closely with Canadian government staff in Ottawa, sending as much as he could in the diplomatic pouch, before flying to Tehran with an associate to assist with the rescue. There were alternate passports and identities for a variety of scenarios, but the cover story selected had the six being a Hollywood crew scouting movie locations. The elaborate back-story involved a film named Argo, for a Middle-Eastern feel, and a functioning office in Hollywood set up with the help of John Chambers, a veteran Hollywood make-up artist. The six were told that telephone calls to the "Studio Six" office in Los Angeles would be answered. Display ads for the "Studio Six" production were placed in Hollywood publications and one paper was carried by Cora Lijek as part of her cover materials. (The movie scenario was considered one way to get an armed team into Tehran to retake the embassy.)

As the weeks passed, the Americans read and played games, mainly Scrabble, while Taylor made efforts both to fly out non-essential personnel, while sending others on fake errands to both establish erratic patterns and case airport procedures. The tension rose as suspicious telephone calls and other activity indicated the possibility that the concealment was known.

Rescue

On January 27, 1980, the American diplomats, now travelling with Canadian passports, boarded a flight for Zürich, Switzerland, at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport. They arrived in the friendly nation safely. The Canadian embassy was then closed that day, with Ken Taylor and remaining staff returning to Canada.

The six rescued American diplomats:

• Robert Anders, 34 – Consular Officer
• Mark J. Lijek, 29 – Consular Officer
• Cora A. Lijek, 25 – Consular Assistant
• Henry L. Schatz, 31 – Agriculture Attaché
• Joseph D. Stafford, 29 – Consular Officer
• Kathleen F. Stafford, 28 – Consular Assistant

Ambassador Taylor, Sheardown, and their wives, Patricia Taylor and Zena Sheardown, along with embassy staff members Mary Catherine O'Flaherty, Roger Lucy and Laverna Dollimore were awarded the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest civilian award. Zena Sheardown, a Guyanese-born British subject, would normally have been ineligible, but was awarded the membership on an honorary basis due to the intervention of former External Affairs Minister Flora MacDonald. Ambassador Taylor was subsequently awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States Congress for his assistance to the United States of America.

Jean Pelletier, Washington correspondent to the Montreal La Presse newspaper, uncovered the situation before the "Canadian Caper" had reached its conclusion but refused to allow the paper to publish the story in order to preserve the safety of those involved, despite the considerable news value to the paper and writer. Several other news organizations were also in possession of some elements of the story. Pelletier’s article ran as soon as he knew the hostages had left Iran, but by exposing the operation, demolished plans by the U.S. to secretly house the six Americans in Florida while the hostage drama continued. The Argo story was blown, but the CIA role was kept secret by both the U.S. and Canadian governments at the time for the safety of the remaining hostages; its full involvement was not revealed until 1997.

Officially, the U.S. had maintained for negotiation purposes that all of its missing diplomats were held hostage, so the rescue came as a complete surprise to the public. American gratitude for the Canadian rescue effort was displayed widely and by numerous American television personalities and ordinary people alike, with Ambassador Taylor a particular focus of attention. The Canadian flag was flown across the U.S., along with "Thank You" billboards.

In popular culture

In March 1980, Mercury Records released a spoken-word record by seven-year-old Shelley Looney, called "(This Is My Country) Thank You, Canada". The record received some airplay and made Cashbox's Top 100 (two weeks at #99) and Billboard Magazine's "Bubbling Under The Hot 100" chart nationally, peaking at #109. (Looney would grow up to play for the US Olympic women's ice hockey team in 1998 and 2002; coincidentally, it was her goal against the Canadians that clinched the gold medal for the USA in 1998.)

In 1981, a television movie about the Canadian Caper was made, Escape from Iran: The Canadian Caper, directed by Lamont Johnson, with Ken Taylor and John Sheardown played by Gordon Pinsent and Chris Wiggins, respectively. The movie was filmed in and around Toronto, which the cast and crew nicknamed "Tehranto".

Laura Scandiffio wrote a short story based on this event: "Fugitives in Iran" (2003, Puffin).

Wired ran a story in April 2007 about the Caper.

The film Argo, based on the article, is set for release on October 12, 2012.

Mark Lijek has written a detailed memoir of the event scheduled for electronic publication at the end of September, 2012.

Further reading

• Pelletier, J. & Adams, C. The Canadian Caper, Macmillan of Canada 1981, illustrated, 239 pages. ISBN 0-7715-9583-2
• Joshuah Bearman. "How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran", Wired Magazine, issue 15.05.
• Department of Foreign Affairs website retrieved January 25, 2008
• Wright, Robert Our Man in Tehran, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 2010, 406 pages. ISBN 978-1-59051-413-9

External links

• Escape from Iran: The Canadian Caper at IMDb