The WikiLeaks Dump’s Best Story

It’s not all embarrassment and scandal in the WikiLeaks dump: Contained in the cables is the story of a 75-year-old American man who escaped Iran via horseback. Hossein Ghanbarzadeh Vahed visited Iran in May 2008; he flew in, but then was trapped there for seven months after the country confiscated his passport and refused to hear his appeals. So he staged a daring escape. He got on horseback, hired two guides, and rode a horse over a mountain for 14 hours on a freezing-cold night. He arrived in Turkey and took the bus to the U.S. embassy in Ankara, arriving in January 2009.