don't shoot the pianist
he is doing the best he can

It was thirty years ago today, in the midst of the American embassy hostage crisis, that six American diplomats were successfully exfiltrated from Iran. In would become known as the “Canadian caper”, the escapees had been sheltered at the official residences of Canadian ambassador Kenneth Taylor and immigration officer John Sheardown.

The caper was a wonderful piece of cooperation between everybody involved, from the Canadian embassy staff to the Cabinet, which issued its first secret order-in-council since World War II to issue authentic Canadian passports to the American diplomats. The CIA was also involved, although their role in providing a cover story—which involved a fake movie production, of all things—wouldn’t be made public for over a decade after the operation.

It all makes me wonder whether we could pull this off again today. I’m not so sure.

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