This documentary short was made by Warner Brothers Home Entertainment to accompany the DVD release of the 2012 film, "Argo." It makes a very interesting follow-up to the movie, to see and hear from most of the American escapees and some of the other people involved in their rescue.
Six American embassy employees who were "house guests" in the Canadian embassy in Tehran, escaped Iran in 1980. Five of them appear in this documentary, "Rescued from Tehran: We Were There." They include Bob Anders, Cara Lijek, Mark Lijek, Kathy Stafford and Lee Schatz. The only one missing is Joe Stafford. Also in the film is Ken Taylor who was the Canadian Ambassador. And, Tony Mendez is interviewed. He was the CIA agent who planned, coordinated and carried out the 1980 rescue in Operation Argo. There are short snippets of Jimmy Carter who was President at the time.
Curiously, the five embassy people don't seem to convey a sense of real worry or threat for their lives at that time. This likely could be the lapse of time - 32 years, in which time tends to smooth things over. And, as one of them explained, there had been an attack earlier in February 1979 that led to return of the embassy to the U.S. within a day. As Bob Anders says in this film, "There were demonstrations almost every day, so we hardly paid much attention to it." House guest Cara Lijek says, "The previous takeover of the embassy on Valentine's Day of 1979 lasted for 24 hours. Everyone was relieved and so when this attack occurred, all of us thought this would also be a temporary take over."
Kathy Stafford says she saw the crowd outside - "they were men and women. It was the first time I had seen these demonstrators up close." Mark Lijek says, "We wanted to believe that this would be a temporary occupation." But, Lee Schatz says, " After a few hours, though, this one didn't look that way." Mark Lijek says they decided, "Let's get out of here. Let's go find a place to hide, and let's see how things develop." That's when they left through a side street door that Iranians used to apply for U.S. visas. They first phoned and then were welcomed at the Canadian embassy. The Iranian revolutionaries didn't know that any Americans had escaped the embassy until about the time that Operation Argo got them out of Iran under the cover of being a Canadian film crew. But, the 52 Americans from the embassy who were captured were held hostage for 444 days. They were finally released only on January 20, 1981, the day Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president.
The story of rescue is a compelling one. All the house guests had praise for the CIA agent, Tony Mendez, who coordinated the rescue plan and then led them out himself. Mendez is interviewed here as well. He was awarded the CIA's top honor, the Intelligence Star for Valor, for Operation Argo. Mendez retired from the CIA in 1990 and in 1997 was named as one of 50 people in the history of the CIA to receive the Trailblazer Medallion.
This documentary is only 17 minutes, but it gives first-hand accounts of the Nov. 4, 1979, terrorist attack on the U..S. embassy; and of the six employees who fled and hid in the Canadian embassy. And finally, their escape from Iran in January 1980 disguised as a members of a Canadian film crew, led by Tony Mendez.
