Can Argo’s Best Picture Win Stop War with Iran?

Ruth Hull
Activist Post

On February 24, 2013, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has thrown down the gauntlet to Congress, the President, the corporate oil vultures, the State of Israel, and the Military Industrial Complex by presenting the Best Picture Award to Argo, a movie showing that peace is the way to save lives in response to an act of war.

On November 4, 1979, Iranian students stormed the American Embassy in Tehran and took Americans hostage. This was a violation of U.S. sovereignty. America was attacked where it was supposed to be secure under international law. But Jimmy Carter refused to take up the sword. Instead, he took up the dove and got everyone home, alive and safe.

The takeover of the American Embassy was effectively an act of war – unlike any current actions of Iran involving the United States or its citizens. Iran has not taken over any of our embassies since 1979. It has committed no acts of war against the United States. Its peaceful nuclear energy plan (albeit an unhealthy and unsafe energy plan) is peaceful. (Source)

In fact, if asked their opinion, most Americans living near nuclear power plants would gladly encourage the U.S. Government to dig up and ship all 104 of our operational nuclear reactors to Iran as a belated Christmas present. I live near San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) and Californians have been trying to get rid of that plant for decades as it is the most unsafe reactor in America. (Source)

In 2013, Congress has been besieged with lies about Iran by hawks, eager to attack the country with the fourth largest oil reserves in the world, after “Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Canada.” Congressional warmongers are eager for war.

In the face of all this genocidal drive towards another future wasteland of dead babies and innocent civilians as a ritual sacrifice to the U.S. Military Industrial Complex, the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences has boldly stood up and reminded the blood-thirsty Congressional and Executive Branch hawks of the success of Jimmy Carter’s path towards peace.

As shown in Argo, while peace saved lives in 1979 and 1980, it did not save Jimmy Carter’s Presidency. Heroically, he put the lives of others before his own career. He could have taken credit for the rescue of six American from the Canadian Ambassador’s home instead of letting the Canadians have the credit. However, that would have risked Canadian lives in Iran. Carter was not about to risk lives to save his Presidency.

Also clear from the movie was the attempted undermining of Carter’s peace plan by a shadow government with ties to the Pentagon. Moviegoers see that Tony Mendez, the CIA rescuer who conceived and carried out the plan for the Argo rescue, actually had to go against CIA superiors in order for the plan to succeed. If he had listened to his CIA bosses, the six Americans would have been captured and they and the Canadian diplomats could have been killed. This betrayal by the intelligence community is no surprise as a helicopter rescue plan was sabotaged by people in the Military Industrial Complex working against Carter and the hostages. The helicopter rescue idea was ridiculous, given the terrain and weather conditions in Iran. The military advisers had to know the helicopter plan would fail and embarrass the President even as they were working to sell the plan as a likely success scenario. Going against his bosses, Argo’s Mendez proved that he was one CIA agent who cared more about saving lives than about bringing down a President.

For information on acts of treason happening behind the scenes, check out a documentary called, COVER UP: Behind the Iran-Contra Affair. Ask yourself, why the Iranian leadership would time the hostage release to coincide with the Inauguration of Ronald Reagan. Were they fans of Death Valley Days or did certain vice presidential candidate meet with Bonnie Sadr to work out a deal to delay the release of American hostages? This would have been an act of treason if it did occur.

The movie Argo is a great reminder of an important period in U.S. history. The Canadian Government, initially given credit for the rescue as part of the cover story, was not happy with the release of information about who was really behind the rescue. But without the assistance of the Canadian officials in Iran, the six Americans might have been captured and killed long before Mendez arrived in that country and so the Canadians were still heroes. Mendez has stated that the facts of the rescue are stranger than fiction. Audiences will find themselves glued to the edge of their seats from the opening sequence to the closing credits in this thriller. The acting was excellent and some of the finest talent in the Screen Actors Guild was chosen to perform in this picture, part of the reason the movie also received the SAG Ensemble Cast Award, generally considered the prelude to the Best Picture Oscar.

If you are in Congress or in the executive branch of the U.S. Government, this movie is a must-see as a tutorial of how to react in an international crisis. A President who cares about life does not take the country into war when a peaceful alternative can be arranged. Though Nobel Peace Prizes are often given out to the biggest warmongers of the year, Jimmy Carter actually earned his Award. Perhaps next year, Peace President Jimmy Carter can join Oscar winner Ben Affleck in handing out the 2014 Best Picture Award.

Ruth Hull is an activist and writer whose career has included work as a criminal defense attorney, a licensed private investigator, and an educator.