While revealing new details about one of the most famed CIA operations of all times — the spiriting out of six American diplomats who escaped the 1979 U.S. Embassy seizure in Iran — the intelligence agency for the first time has acknowledged something else as well.
The CIA now officially describes the 1953 coup it backed in Iran that overthrew its prime minister and cemented the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as undemocratic.
Other American officials have made similar remarks in the past, but the CIA’s acknowledgment in a podcast about the agency’s history comes as much of its official history of the coup remains classified 70 years after the putsch. That complicates the public’s understanding of an event that still resonates, as tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington over the Islamic Republic’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, its aiding of militia groups across the Mideast and as it cracks down on dissent.
The “CIA’s leadership is committed to being as open with the public as possible,” the agency said in a statement responding to questions from The Associated Press. “The agency’s podcast is part of that effort — and we knew that if we wanted to tell this incredible story, it was important to be transparent about the historical context surrounding these events, and CIA’s role in it.”
Really frustrating that this article does what Argo did and turn the entire rescue operation into an American affair, completely ignoring the fact that the Canadians were integral to every single part of the plan. Also that the Canadians were putting themselves in extreme risk to help the Americans. However by looking at that movie and this article you’d think that it was completely resolved by 2 CIA agents. Former president Jimmy Carter even said that “90 percent of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan was Canadian but Argo gives almost full credit to the CIA.”
Getting a little tired of his historical erasure when Canadians were the ones who risked literally everything to save the Americans. You guys claim the hero role in so much. Please just let us keep ours, damn. Not bad enough that the Canadian hero who was at the center of all this had to fly to LA to change the Argo ending because it was so outrageously offensive to Canada. At least that was a movie. Meanwhile CIA can publicly acknowledge overthrowing entire governments but can’t give me and my Leaf People a single shred of credit.
This isn’t limited to Argo. Hollywood absolutely steals real life events and turns them into America is Awesome movies.
U-571 should have been about the British navy.
Let’s not look past the white washing of stories as well. Last Samurai.
Now You See Me21…both movies where the stories are about Asians but played by Caucasians.Funnily enough, Last Samurai belongs in the first category too. There were some real-life white military officers who were employed as advisors and ended up fighting against the Meiji government in the late 18th century. They were French, though, not American.
I completely agree with all your points except for the last movie you mention. Unless there’s another movie I’m unaware of called Now You See Me, that movie is about a handful of ‘magicians’ who ‘rob a bank’ and then piss off the FBI. There are no main characters in the movie that are Asian at all. That’s probably a problem of it’s own, but there’s no instance of white washing there.
Shit. I meant 21, the movie about the MIT Poker team.
I don’t know if anyone from 21 was involved in NYSM but I get your confusion. A lot of the stylistic choices of the movie are pretty similar.
So yeah, then I 100% back everything you say buddy. Hollywood is a fucking wreck.
Also I dunno who’s downvoting you but that’s pretty shitty of them.
Hero role?
Every Hollywood movie is re-written to have the American be the hero, this is no different.