Preparing for the Airport Departure

For exclusive interviews, bonus episodes, ad free listening, early access to series, first look at live show tickets, a weekly newsletter, and discounted books, join the declassified club The rest is classified. com CIA man Tony Mendes has just landed in Revolutionary Tehran Now he must teach S terrified diplomats to be a Hollywood film crew All in seventy two hours. Well, welcome to the Rest is Classified. I'm Gordon Carrera. And I'm David McLlaskey. A David last time We talked about the cover. Studio six productions on the old Columbia lot of Hollywood, the Argo screenplay with it's fantastic Middle East sci fi mythology, the concept art full page ads in variety alias passports and documents and President Carter approving operation. So now all is set for this great rescue in which the CIA play their own small role now as Tony Mendez arrives to help out the Canadians on their rescue of the Americans, bailing them out as ever. I know you might have something to say about that, but wait, it's the early morning of january twenty fifth, nineteen eighty. Tony Mendez, who is, I have to say, quite a heroic CIA officer and his partner Julio also Ed have just landed at the airport in Tehran, undercover as a production manager and associate producer for Studio sixix productroductions, ready to scout locations for their new film project, Argo And this is the moment where the plan is going to come into action, isn't it? David? You know, before we get into the amazing weekend. It's really it's a weekend in which Tony Bendez and Ed Johnson are on the ground in Tehran to brak the diplomats out. I think We should acknowledge, we will acknowledge at the outset and I'm I'm not too proud to do this that we are telling this story of this exfiltration largely from the perspective of Tony Mendez who's written a book about the exfiltration and the CIA We are not trying to diminish The amazing role that the Canadians play. Oh, thank you. Let's put the filtration No thank you for that. I think that you actually in your extremism are minimizing you're going too far to the other side and minimizing the CIA role. I'm attempting to be fact based. to be balanced and balanced as usual, as usual in describing the Canadian contribution to this amazing this amazing exfiltration. So I just I wanted I want to flag this for our Canadian listenterers. We basically just trying to not lose any Canadian. That's basically It's a mercenary move. Ben Affleck like. And we will we will talk about that at our our bonus episode in which Gordon will deliver a sort of Mussolini style screamed against rant,st against the historical accuracy of the film and its denigration of Canada Let's get to the exfiltration This episode is brought to you by HP. In intelligence work, it's rarely the obvious problem that causes failure. 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Sell your car today on carana. Pick up these Mfly So in Tehran It is The morning of january twenty fifth, nineteen eighty it is a Friday Tony Bendez and Ed Johnson have landed very early in the morning. And it is Its cold. There's piles of dirty snow all over the runway. becausecause they've taken a flight from Zurich Many of the women who had not covered their hair in the flight go into the Lavatory and Dwn black Jadors before they come out and disembark Mendees and Edwalk in the rivvelalss terminal. gets quiet. It's very early in the morning. One of the things they are these yellow and white disisembarkation forms. There's stacks of these light around on the table And basically it is filled out upon entry. One copy is taken by the immigration officer, you have the other copy and you need to show that on your way out of the country Ed Johnson grabs a few of these. off of a table. basically fabricate them for the house guests And it's a kind of clever slight of hand, isn't it? Itesn't you do something like put a newspaper down on top and then just kind of grab them as he picks up the newspaper, it's that classic way of you know, using distraction or using techniques to try and pick something up. It's kind of it's an important move But actually later they'll find, I think it might have been The Canadians already had a bunch of extras, but they didn't know that. So they pick up a bunch of extras. They get into li in immigration You know, plain clothes revolutionary guards officers milling around the lounge, but they seem much more interested in Haslet returning Iranians than foreigners. Now remember Mendees had been in Iran months earlier, exfiltrating another Iranian asset, Raptor who I think actually Raptor, I don't think was his CIA code nameame. I think this was the name Mendes gave the asset in the book He calls a raaptor and Mendz is in the back of his mind wondering if the Iranians have a bead on him because he's been there before. And so he's thinking that it's possible he could be stnatched or pulled into secondary or whatnot when he is When he arrives, this does not happen Immigration officers dont pay any attention to them They tear off. Those halves of the disembarkation before they stamp the passport, wave him through. Mendees later learns, of course the, you know the militants over at the embassy been piecing together the files that had been taken from the chancery, from the station in a bid to figure out who might have been a CIA asset? They have all of the Americans as hostages. Mendees will later figure out that the militants have had a document referencing after exfiltration in the in a safe, but his name wasn't on it, which makes sense. So he's in the clear. So he's in the clear. So Ment as an . go to the Sheratan. Check in This is exactly where Western Bus people of film crew are going to stay in Tehran. chop off the bags and then actually walk Instead of taking a taxi to the Canadian emmbassy, they walk to scout the city. but they get lost which is saw the great sle lost. Mendez has a tourist map. You know, they're not going to have anything more complicated than that because again They're a film crew They stop inter rotot out of the street and ask him you know for directions, the man like Ed. Speaks German And so he flags a taxi for them and points them, you know, toward the Canadian emmbassy refuses payment and you know, there's this kind of moment of fleeting moment of kind of humanity and hospitality interaction between these these two Westerners and this random Iranian. So they arrive at the Canadian emmbassy a little bit before noon to see Gordon's personal hero, Canadian ambassador Taylor I think we have to always refer to him as Ken Taylor Canada's James Bond. that I mean, he's a slightly unlikely James Bond. It's worth people looking at pictures of him. He looks more like a kind of angom like James Bond. seventies progressive rock band or a kind of Sci fi novelist, which maybe fits with the Argo thing, but but he's cool. He's cool, I think. He's cool. He' he's definitely kind of he's cool for an ambassador, I think And he is the one who took the risk You know, even before telling his government to take these guys in and who has been doing some kind of sneaky beaky work for the CIA, both intelligence collection on what's happening at the old American emmbassy and you know potential safe houses for a team that might come in to do the rescue from there and sending material back. So he is the real deal. I think should we should say that. And he is wearing. I mean, he's wearing glasses. So he's got kind of thick glasses as well as this curly mop of hair jeans and cowboy boots, which Again, not your normal ambassador picture everything is being Jeans So it's a a proper Canadian tuxedo. So it's just all jeans with the cowwoy bos. That's in my head. It's probably not what it was what he was actually wearing, but there we go. I'll take a little. takeake a swing at Canadian fashion. So he also this is also what makes him cool. He's got a fully stock bar in his office. So Taylor sits down Mendez and Ed and explains that the embassy is in the process of closing And his family will actually be leaving that afternoon Five Canadian staff remain and they are all planning to depart on Monday the twentyentieth of January, which is the same day as the planned exfiltration That is partly because they've been coming under more pressure and they're they've decided to close down. But also I think there is the knowledge that this exfiltration Particularly if it goes wrong or if anything's discovered, it's going to point quite quickly back Canadians and they're going to be in all hell of a lot of trouble. So it probably makes more sense for them to be if that happens and to have, you know, handed over diplomatic functions. I think they're going to hand them over to the Kiwis and others to do. So so they are also getting ready to pack up. So the clock is really ticking on this. The film strongly insinuates that the Canadians had gotten like cold feet about about holding the diplomats, the house guests. and That's not true. I think that the Canadians, I mean, there were there were ticking clocks, right? They the longer they're there. the more likely it is that they're discovered and then who knows what happens to the Canadian diplomats? Yeah, journalists have fou out about this. so they yeah, there are worries that they cant they can't keep this going much longer. but suddenly this is speeding up. It's speeding up. There had been a plan though, originally, I think that the Canadians might have just got because the documents have already come in But the Canadians might have just left themselves And then the idea is no, they're going to be escorted out by Tony Mendez and that's going to be part of the plan. And that's why he's there now. But that it does create a sense of pressure. As you said, we've basically got a weekend. We've got under three days for this all to happen For stop after to visit with Ambassador Taylor at the E embassy is to head to John Siran's house up in North Tehran in the Chevron district that evening It's in an affluent part of the city. Now remember, this is where four of the house guests. are being housed It's in an affluent part of the city Teran equivalent of Bell air. does that mean does that anything to Brince, Gordon, a Bel Air. Ps. Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Freshrince. Yeahah, exactly. Sore in they're in the Bel Air of Tehran The sheootowns, though, are gone by now because the Canadian emmbassy is drawing down And again There's an operational reason for this to the point you raised earlier, which is that if this exfiltration goes wrong The trail is going to lead back to the Sheerdown house and Really this is an important detail we haven't talked about it yet John Sheerdowns. diplomat. His wife is not His wife Zena is not So the The level of the personal risk that that family took shouldn't be downplayed. Brave Canadians Brave Canadians. And and the consequences in particular for Zena Sheer down, we've been very uncertain. if they had actually been caught. So the sho downowns are gone By late January, though, there's a first seecretary from the Canadian embassy named Roger Lucy who is house sitting for the sheerdoubs and he is at the house. The Staffords have come over Fr the T tailors, for the meetings, you have all six of the house guests in the S room together to meet Mendez and and Ed. Lee Shatz, apparently agricultural attache opens the door And he says that so I guess Mendes and Ed have decided to wear trench coats. I mean, it's cold. Maybe they look exactly like like CIA guys showing up on the doorstep to, you know, say hello Um Mendz in his memoir wrote that he can still remember the face of Lee Satz at the moment, who he writes lookook like an overgrown kid full of mischief with a swooping muststache overtaking everything else. So everyone comes to meet Mendees and Ed they sit down in the Sootdown's living room Mendez apparently doesn't actually say he works for the CIA, but presumably Everyone knows And then he starts to lay out the cover Hollywood cover. And what would you if you had been playing sccrabble and drinking yourself into oblivion and a stressful experience like this. what would your reaction be, Gordon to someone showing up from the CIA and telling you that you were going to be an associate producer as you were whisks out of Tehron. Lunacy would be my question. I think lunacy I mean, it is this is the bit that I you know, I still come back to as being fascinating because You know, when you look at the story, there'd been all these other cover options And I think some of them are still on the table potentially as Full backacks. when these are presented But even the Canadians, I think, had come up originally with the idea of them being a documentary film And then it would be the CIA and Tony Mendes who go, no, no, no, no Hollywood I mean there's something quite American about that, but you could you know, and CIA about that, dare I say. I think the Tony Mendez contribution really is to go, no, no, no, no, no, we're not going to underplay this. If you're going to do it, go big, go Hollywood. He's got the kind of variety ad of the film Mrgo and the concept are, all this crazy stuff, the spaceships, temples and alien gods, all this weird stuff. And I mean, you would think it's lunacy, wouldn't you? It is worth thinking about the logic of it because I do think it's almost so lunatic. that it's more plausible than trying to do something close to life. It gives you, you know, if you're going to create a cover story, go for it. That's the Tony Mendez theory, isn't it I think that's part of it. I also think that Let's say the Canadians come up with a documentary film crew as an idea first could actually depending on the level of connection between the Canadian Secret intntelligence Serice. in Ottawa and whatever Film production studios, you know, existed in Ottawa at the time compare that to the connections that Bendez has in Hollywood. you could also say, well, look, that's a good idea that they're a film crew. We can backstop this much more effectively and much more quickly then you can. So let us do that. Yeah I don't exactly know where the idea came from because that's going to that is going to That was in a conference room somewhere in Ottawa or in in Washington where people are throwing ideas around or in Tony Mendez's arrt studio or whatever, but I could see that From the standpint, like the way a joint operation might work I could see them kicking ideas around and then the Americans saying, well, that's easier for us to do. let us do that piece of it. You handle with ROTS guys that will se up to Ottawa a lot of the documents. like there's a division of labor here that obviously the film misses. But I still think it's fascinating because they he does present to them in this House at this moment, the fact that there are other cover stories that, you know, the Canadians and the State Department had had, you know that they could be unemployed American school teachers or Canadian nutritionists which I guess suggests that even some people back at headquarters in both countries knew that the Hollywood one might be a stretch But Mendez is still going to kind of push that one as the best option. I can see why if you were one of those hostages or you know, one of those diplomats, you'd be thinking That's the crazy one. I think in hindsight it does make more sense to go for the crazy option. But I can absolutely see if you're in the room at that moment where someone is telling you you're working on this crazy sci fi film. You'd go Nonetheless, he does he brings the other options, he brought supporting paperwork from Ottawa and backstopping for the alternative packages. So the you know, agricultural survey and the school teachers All right. so they've they've got an option. I think Mendees goes in with full confidence that he will convince them that the Hollywood option is the right approach. but he doesn't want to It seems he doesn't want to dictate that to them, which I think is it is interesting. He wants he wants them to feel bought in. So pitches the Hollywood idea. and then sends everybody into the dining room to discuss it among themselves. and in that tin of group, they work it through. So These shats, agriculture attache basasically says the nutritionist survey cover is totally unconvincing. I mean, he's the ag attache after all. and he raises similar points that Mendees and the Canadians have already raised, which is that Iran is snowbound in January. This doesn't make a ton of sense And again, same problem with English school teachers the English schools I Teran have been shuttered for months Why are they hurting up now to leave Apparently, Cora Lk is one of the first to warm up to the Argo option She likes movies, she can picture herself being a Hollywood screenwriter. C Can't we all, you know, at some point to drink. you know, and you can see how It kind of the realization begins to ripple through this crew of six diplomats that makes a lot of sense that even if that sort of first blush, it's crazy U Mark Lychk later tells Mendez, it sounded like we kind of warm to the idea and says,, it sounded to me like we were going have one hell of a good time and I couldn't wait to get going. And you can imagine also why people would be excited to leave because they've got to be going stir crazy with boredom and bit of paranoia and fear are being locked up. Lee Sats is excited about it and figures he can Waitute. there is one dissenter in the end and that's Joe Stafford who is skeptical about the plan. And I think it's It's less because he is He thinks the Hollywood idea is crazy, although that might be part of it. I think it's more that he fears if they leave and something goes wrong that there could be retaliation against the other American hostages who are being held who are their coworers and friends from the emmbassy. They know these people which I think is a A fair question, but with the Canadians getting ready to close the embassy And the kind of, again, the clock we've been talking about ticking I think he's essentially eventually convinced over the course of this dinner table conversation that they need to they need to do something. So what's the best bad option Yeah, and I find it interesting that Mendes has left the room for them to argue it out because he knows he's got to get them to buy into it. He doesn't come in and order them, you know, this is how we're going to do it. He lets them work it out themselves. I guess clearly there's a bit of tension there. Apparently at one point Tony Mendz whoo could sense this the tension of the room is The hosk guests are working this through He picks up two corks off a counter gives you some idea of how much they're drinking. There'sready there's already quks.'re a bit of an operational discussion. And he apparently interlocks them between his thumbs and forefingers kind of forming two D shapes Mendees writes that he told them, let me show you how an operation like this works. Here's us and here are the bad guys This is how we're going to get out of each other's way. and he kind of does this slight of hand, pulls his hands apart appear to pass through each other And I guess the point of this is to demonstrate that, you know, They're in good hands or something like that. I love that after this Stafford is still unconvinced. He's still he's still the wholeold out. You want him to you want him to go all in and, you know, he's like, no. So the group is's kind of five to one in favor of the Argo cover and obbviously getting out, but Stafford eventually will will later come around. Now the next day So Saturdays Saturday. Mendeesz is going to go with Ed over to the to the embassy to the Canadian emmbassy and work on some documents. We'll talk about that in a second. But the next day for the House guest is rehearsal because they have They have to memorize their new identities. and have some confidence that if they're questioned by an immigration officer, they can explain what they're doing and who they are and where they've been All these basic questions that someone might ask So Bob Anders becomes Robert Baker Irish Canadian. He's from a small town outside Toronto. He's a locations manager I got twenty two years in the film business. Mark Lyjck is Joseph Earl Harris s the transportation manager, the name and birthday come from Kora's actual father. his wife Kora's actual father. so it's like a memory hook. So he'll remember the information under stress Coral Eijk is T Theeresa Harris, who's the screenwiter for Argo and is up on the Argo posters. Joe Stafford is Sam Collins, the associate producer. Kathy Stafford is Mary Collins, the art director in real life Kathy Stafford has an art school backg So it's covered that's close ish to our actual lived experience and Lee Shatz is Henry Collins, who is the cameraman, Mendees gives him a cameraman's viewfinder for him to carry. And Mentees Basically tells them You know, here's how you should think about operating an alias And he's referrred to his own alias. identity that he is using on this trip of Kevin Costa Harkins And Mendes says, I wasn't pretending to be Kevin. I was Kevin And he was me which I think is a fascinating kind of psychological insight into the way cover works Yeah, it's like what you hear actors have to do, isn't it? You have to inhabit the personality. You're not just putting it on. you have to be that person and turn yourself into that. And I imagine it's something that some people can do And some people may find a little bit harder to do problem is not just doing it, but doing it under pressure doing it when when, you know, you're getting interrogated by some revolutionary guard with your life on the line. I mean, that is reallyally challenging, isn't it? But Mendez, I guess that is the advantage of having sent Mendes in is that precisely this kind of drilling of the team. because they could have just sent them the documents. and said go and try and get out but it's his ability to kind of explain to them as someone who's done this before, how to do it that really gives them an edge. And Mendes writates that No was talking about cover, but you can fool a person into thinking you were someone else. It feels very powerful being the only one who is in the know, which I think is a very It's a very similar insight to the way case officers talk about conducting a surveillance detection route when they get black, when they know they're free of surveillance, this kind of God almost godlike feeling where the opposition doesn't know. that you're there, you know what's going on and they don't and in that gap in that space, that's where you can make the operation succeed. So maybe there with The house gets role playing and Tony Mendez and Ed about to head to the Canadian emmbassy to work on some documents Let's take a break Hi, this is Garal Linka from Gold Hangers. The restest is foootball. This episode is brought to you by Wise. 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Tap this ad to learn more about trimphayia, including important safety information Let's talk about Pay Roni's disease, or PD It's not widely talked about and some men may feel reluctant to bring it up but it's more common than you'd think PD can happen when scar tissue builds up under the skin of the penis, causing a curve or a bump during an erection that for some men, may lead to pain during intimacy and impact mental health A trusted urology specialist can help diagnose PD walk you through your options, including non surgical treatment. Visit talkboutpD. com Welcome back. It's Saturday morning, the twentyentih sixth of January And Tony Mendeesz and Ed. have got work to do at the Canadian Embassy while the diplomats are preparing their cover story, haven't they The first thing Mendees does the embassy is a sentered updated ops plan and a situation report both to Ottawa and to Langley. He also sends a cable which is tootal fiction anyone who might read this later, saying that six Canadians from Studio sixix Productions had called on the ambassador in Tehran hoping that he could set up with a meeting with the Iranian Ministry of National Guidance. to lease the local bazaar for Ago and Taylor because The security situation in Tehran is disintegrating and the Canadians are about to leave. basically advises stududio six to look elsewhere And the Canadians, you know, in this cable that he's writing up as cover This Canadian film crew says, okay, you know, will'll probably leave the country then on Monday whichich makes it out to be a bit of a fail trip, doesn't it? Beuse they've just arrived and they're just gonna to leave again. You think you'd have called and checked that out before. but it's interesting, isn't it? Be this cable is just to preserve the cover story for later, to keep it going if they can, about why there were a group of Canadian filmmakers in Tehran and why they left so quickly, I guess. But it's clever because it also, I guess becausecause it involves the embassy and the discussions, at least on the official story level which then will justify using some embassy vehicles, I think and drivers to take them to the airport. Because I guess you're claiming, well, these poor Canadian filmmakers, they've turned up They can't know do the location scouting that they wanted to, but we'll at least drive them to the airport Exactly. And So Mendees sends the cable out And then he and Ed settle into work on the documents They do a lot of this from Ambassador Taylor's offffice This is the most operationally critical piece of the whole thing which is forging the Iranian visa stamps that the house guests will hand to the immigration officers at the airport Um This is this is going to show because remember those passports they'll walk out on need to look like they walked in a few days earlier and need to be stamped appropriately Here's the day Problem Roger Lucy. the first secretary at the Canadian embassy who is now living at the Sheerown's house with with the house guests F of them. had been responsible for picking up diplomatic pouch at the airport, bringing that back into the embassy and having a look at the documents And he sees that the OTS team that had fabricated these documents or these stamps in Ottawa. had made a mistake Persian calendar begins on the twenty first of march, not on the first of January Lucy is a fluent Persian speaker. And he sees that the visas were mistakenly dated as having been issued in the future which is not a good thing which is not a good thing. Mendes and Ed had been aware of this before they'd gone into Tay Rad it. Mendees had basically said Mendees got this news when he was in Fankfurt He assures Lucy that they could address this with the the second set tingency set of passports. And they'll work on the visas from the Canadian emmbassy when Bendz and Ed are on the ground in Tehran I mean, this is a pretty bad mistake from the OTS, the CIA OTS team, which is picked up, I should say by a Canadian. For those not watching on the video, Gordon's eyes lit up as soon as I got to this point in the outline where he could he could point out yet another Canadian contribion Which is true, which is true, Gordon. mean It is true Roger Luci, is the one who spots it. But it's also true that it is interesting that the fact you have to have the contingency of having a second set of passports and the fact that Tony Mendees is able to think, well, we have got a backup. It's that point, isn't it, of having redundancies of backups in case something like that goes wrong. And I think it's an interesting example about how important that's going to be that kind of detail and preparation. becausecause now they've got to get to work on it Ed gets to work First on the disembarkation and the embarkation forms, that kind of the two part white and yellow cards that the Iranian government in January of nineteen eighty is using, but they've actually inherited the same forms from the Ss the Shahs government Ed completes the Persian and English annotations on about twentyenty of them, he's working from the wording on the genuine yellow sheets that he and Mendees rememember what he had pocketed those and kind of them under his under a newspaper when he had arrived at Marabad. he works off of those forms. Mendez turns to the passports and his job is to insert those Iranian visas and to set in the arrival stamp for Barabad Airport to make it look again house guests had arrived a few days earlier along with Mendez and Ed. the example that Mendez is working from on the arrival stamp is the impression in his and Ed's own passports from their entry the day before. So he wants to make it look simimilar. He works off of that Mendez uses a stick. he describes it as similar to a manicure stick my wife would often use to kind of stipple in the dates on the forged arrival stamps in the House guuest alias Canadian passports Now One of the things that Mendez writes, the worst thing I forg her can do is to forge the signature of an immigration officer before arriving in the country only to discover that the same the same officer is on duty What do you try to leave Also bad is putting in a stamp that's no longer in use And OTS and the Canadians, I presume, Gordon have been monitoring the stamps kind of week by week through the late stages of the revolution doing this specifically to prevent these kind of errorsre when they're forging documents. or when I'm sorry, when the artist validators are working on the documents, Gordon, becauseuse I I believe I corrected' the right earlier in the series about cing forging Forgery ar artist validators, Mendees places each stamp carefully in the passports He's using a technique to make the impression look as if it's been done very hastily by a very bored immigration officer at the end of a shift whichich makes total sense when you think about it because it's if you stamp it and kind of make it look really clean That's not the way most Border guards, immmigration officers are stamping these things. It is just, you know, next, next, next. So he makes it look simimilar. to that Now Down the hall The Canadians, who remember are shuttering their embassy on Monday. This is Saturday. They're shuttering the embassy at Munday They're destroying communications equipment Apparently with a sledgehammer and it's making abbsolute ton of noise You get this sense of that it's all coming to a head after so many months of waiting for these people, suddenly it's all going to matter what happens in the last few days and Ken Taylor James Bond comes and, you know, sees Tony and Ed in the office and he sits on the sofa and looks at them and talks to them about making this artist validation, stroke forgery. And what I like is is you get this sense that Ken Taylor And Amendees, you know, says that Taylor enjoyed being in the midst of this clandestine skulluggery. So you get the feeling that this is a guy who's really relishing actually his moment doing this and being part of this. And as we said, he's been doing kind of secret communications all kinds of things, but it's that sense of like this is it. the adrenaline is kicking it. I mean, this is one of the things that I do like the truth of the story is a bit more exciting than the film where I can't tell he was this kind of marginal figure he just opens the door a few times. But here you get this sense of the ambassador really enjoying the fact that he he's, you know, hosting a spy team. Well and as we D discussed, you know he's been playing like version of the CIA Chf a station for the CIA and for the Canadians over the course of the last few months. So he's, you know, hes he's in the mix also what he's up to This reminds me so much of diplomats or intelligence officers overseas when your tour is coming to an end You've got to make sure you've got the appropriate souvenirs and goods purchased from the country And in the middle of all this Ken Taylor's secretary comes in and says Oh, exxcuse me, Mr. Ambassador, the rug merchant you've requested show up here. He's here and this rug merchant, Oala bringing these weathered antiques. Persian carpets in for the ambassador to consider buying a few before he leaves the country. Ed when Taylor isn't forward about this. know Mendees and Ed are working on the documents. He's like, Oh, o right. I forgot about that guy. And he still welcomes him in. He welcomes it obviously he's not welc to begin. Wall Mendez and you into the same room as It head working on fake documents. but at some point you've got combination of Bendees and Ed working on these documents The ammbassador reviewing the wres of this Persian rug merchant and then guys sledge haammering the combo equipment down the hallway. So the embassy is It's it's in total, total chaos. So Bendees Back to the documents. Mendez hits a problem when he switches over to backdating. the visas because he opens up He's got it a special ink pad that he's going to use to create the Iranian visa stamp and he sees that the ink is dried up And without the visa, of course, that, you know the rest of the package is worthless. and He looks around and se is that Ambassador Ked Taylor has he sees the liquor cabinet. which of course globullally stacked And he walks over, he looks at the labels. finds a single molt Sotch, she presumes will have a lot of alcohol in it towards two fingers into a high ball glass brings the bottle in the glass back to the space where he and Edter you know, working on the documents It sets the doubt at Ed kindad of reviewing They have comeing in with this bottle of scotch. and he says, Are you thirsty? Dody He says, you know, why not? you know, the whole whole house being fueled by alcohol anyway, You know, the house guests are boozing over at the over at the Sheer downowns. whyy don't we dive in? Bendez, though, of course, is not Thirsty He wants to use it as solvent for the dried ink and the whiskey activates the OTS chemists especially formulated this kind of fluorescent ink, and the whiskey reactivates it and Mendees is able to then complete the visas. Anyhow, by midday Saturday, the documents are done The vces are dry They're incinerating or shredding all of the supplies that they have brought in Mendez and Ed leave the Canadian embassy with the six finished passports The disembarkation forms, all at a concealment briefcase They head back to the Sheerown house, where the house guests, as we have discussed, have been spending the day learning their cover resumes and assembling disguises for a dress rehearsal Mendez has scheduled for them So Sunday The twenty seventh of January. This is the night before the rescue What better way, Gordon prepare yourself for an absolute nail biter at the airport, other than A seven course farewell dinner with champagne, fed wine This sounds like dinner at the Carerea House. Just another Tuesday night at the Carerea House. I mean, it does make you realize emmbassies, ambassadors, ambassadors residents were well stocked with booze, weren't they? Logically, you'd think like, you know, the night before a big game, you know, you'd be dry, but I can see why they do it. I can see why they do it. I think I'd be with them. being awfully hung over impair your ability to answer questions from an immigration offic Ah, but surely if you're maintaining your cover as Hollywood That is exactly what Hollywood Hollywood juices and casting you know and you know, location scouts would be like they would be going out and being hung over and looking a bit, you know, worse for wear, wouldn't they? rather looking perky So I think it's perfect. The immigration officer would be would be concerned if they weren't totally shattered and hung up. Yeah, that's good. That's right, Gordon. joined f course by Ken Taylor, the Canadian ambassador, but also by Danish and the New Zealand ammbassadors. The Kiwis are there too, Gordon and the Daans. it's like the Canadians and the Daans it's a u that we just What's happened? Gordon? How my how how far How far we've fallen. Yeah wouldn't happen these days So the house guests of course spent the day continontuing to work on there. didentity isn't on their cover stories. I will say there is for those who have seen the film, There is the iconic scene in which Mendez, played by Affleck, takes all of the house guests out of the house and they go through the You know, the Grand Bazaar in Tehran and go around the city and they have a run in with Iranian officials. This did not happen. Spoiler alert. didn't happen. I mean, it would have been mad to do that. Well they would have they would have been would have been captured There's no way that they would have taken them out and paraded them around Tran It just was never was never going to happen. And it's one of a few ways the film doesn't quite match the reality which we will look at in our bonus episode for club members, where we do a deeper dive on some of those things. But yes, in the real event of that last night as well. I think in the film there is this questioning of the diplomats pretending be a revolutionary guard, which is done, I think by Ben Affleck in the film as Tony Mendes. But in reality I think it's Roger Lucsey, isn't it? the one who one of the Canadian diplomats who I guess speaks Farsi as well, who offers to play a revolutionary guard interrogator. put them through their paces to see if those cover stories match up And he gets into character It's fair to say he put too much military fatigue boots. He's got a swagger stick with him Mendez says that he looked to be like something right out of the man who would be king. John Houston film, starring Sean Conrey and Michael Caine So He goes goes over all in here and takes Lucy as playing the role of a inquisitive immmigration officer. So he says, who's first and Lee Satz? the agricultural attache volunteers walks up to him hands over his documpents And where visa you get, this is Lucy is using the accent of a Persian speaker ig to speak English chats apparently Maybe as a sign of how much they'd been drinking or how little homework he had done. he's like, you know, orr maybe how obscure the question was Shat says, you know, funny thing, I I don't remember and then Lucy goes nuts. And gets right up in Lee, you know, Lee shats his face. He says, What you made you not remember? You big liar, you American spy. And then apparently Taylor turns to Mendees and is like, this is this really necessary? Do we need to be doing this? And it does remind me. I had to do my hostile environment training when I was at the BBC. and one of the things they do is they put us through the paces of borders like this and make you get kind of mock interrogated Normally it was someone pretending to be a kind of vaguely Slavic border guard, Vaguely Slavic. that would be with a really bad accent. I mean, there was always this one person People at the BBC all know exactly I'mking about and she was about Quite short, five foot tall blonde youet woman who was If the worst thing you could possibly do is smile or as she shouted at you to show your passport or ask you where you're going from. becausecause if she sensed even the hint that you weren't taking it seriously, she would just get in your face and just scream at you and then they would do they would like, you know to get to make you realize what it's like, They would kind of twist your arm behind your back and actually, you know, by the end of it, you'd be like, okay, okay, I'm not I'm going to take this seriously. This could happen to me for real. So I sympathize with those people who are like, do I really need to do this? Oh, no, you really need to do this. Did your hostile environment training prepare you for the restess classified experience, Gordon. It prepared me for lots of things. We get kidnapped on it. You get kidnapped, get you know hooded, you get kind of dogs barking at you all that kind of stuff. It's the full thing. By these former members like that woman who are former members of the spepecial forces who love intntimidated journalists. Yeah. I they just love it. Bunch of soft bunch of soft journalists. The fact they're getting paid, it's their job to knock around some journalists and scare them. So it's good. So yeah, I sympathize with the diplomats in this case Mendees occasionally stops the action to coach and of course Like your experience, you know, Mendees thinks this is and he's probably right, this is necessary. Everyone needs to get into their roles and just start to feel like they're in the roles they need getet some, you know, pressure, poke the poke the cover identity a little bit and see if anyone cracks aroundround eleven o'clock Mendees says Good night And he and Ed to the Sheratan and early the next morning, very early, in fact