After the initial flurry of media interest, I was left to figure out how to move on with my life and that proved hard. Not good enough, the trio decided. This, remember, was a conflict that caused the deaths of 179 British servicemen, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and caused countless more to suffer serious wounds, both physical and psychological. EXCLUSIVE: Lanzarote sticks to its guns and insists it WILL limit tourists and move away from relying on Jeremy Clarkson is axed as Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? But, did it change the way I approached it? However, the Pentagon says the US deployment is "in response to indications of heightened Iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations against US forces and our interests.". Abandoned blue sleeping bag, tents and several wooden shelters are found in woodland close to where police Don't just stick to the Malbec! There it was spotted by Debs Paterson, director of the critically acclaimed Africa United, who met Katharine Gun last week with a view to making the film of her life. In one pivotal scene in the film, all of Gun and Bright's work is nearly undone by one mistake, as a member of The Observer team accidentally changed the American spelling of the memo into British spelling, something The Drudge Report then used to discredit the memo. Did that change your approach to presenting the film knowing that this was actually going to be somewhat of a surprise to people? WebAttempts were made by the authorities to deport her husband, who grew disillusioned with Britain. Im gratified, too, that the film shows the love and support my husband gave me throughout this ordeal. But that shouldn't be the philosophy pre-war when you're trying to decide whether to go to war. What is this paper? She made the point that if you have Helen Mirren playing the Queen or Meryl Streep playing Maggie Thatcher, everybody knows those people and your judged on how well you impersonate, if you will, those people. It was written in technical language, but the meaning was clear enough: the Americans were asking around 100 people in GCHQ to gather information from the communications made by diplomats from six nations Angola, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea and Pakistan all which were then sitting on the United Nations Security Council. Then, the following Monday, I printed out a copy of the email, folded it up, and tucked it carefully in my bag. Even though she didn't stop the war and some people are like what's the point if she didn't stop the warwell, the point is how do you sleep at night? This included a particular focus on the "swing nations" on the security council, Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria and Guinea, "as well as extra focus on Pakistan UN matters". But depicting that climate, people who were not aware or active at that timedidn't realize how difficult this was to talk against the war both from the journalist's perspective and obviously someone who's in the intelligence community. This is my second brief moment of fame. What did you think was going to happen? Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. Unfortunately, perhaps, I have a conscience and my dishonesty gnawed at me persistently until the next day, when I confessed. Whistleblower and former employee of Britain's global surveillance center GCHQ (Government Communications Head Quarters) Katharine Gun smiles as she speaks to the media during a press conference February 25, 2004 in London, England. Gun sacrificed so much when she decided to leak and has worked only intermittently since. There were some audience questions as well. And Where Is Katharine Gun, JUST 36 HOURS TO GO IN OUR WINTER CAMPAIGN. The movie tells the story of Katharine Gun (played by Keira Knightley), a translator with the U.K.'s GCHQ who, in 2003, leaked top secret documents to journalist Martin Bright (Matt Smith) that revealed that the American government's plans to apply pressure on members of the U.N. Security Counsel to pass its war resolution. David Dayen: I want to go to the questions now. Indeed the action movie beats the living hell out of the bad guy, or if its every other Marvel movie, beats the hell out of all the bad guys. So thank you for being here, it means a lot. Maybe that was naive, but she didn't think that. I got that from Yasar. To look at someone who I thought was quite accessible and ordinaryand she doesn't mind me saying this because Katharine is someone who keeps her head below and is quiet, and did something extraordinary. To this day, however, there has been barely a mention of the year I spent living under a cloud. Which really, really, really happened. You took this job and didnt even know what it was. They're more polite to their suspects. Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. However, Gun was well aware that any attempt to release the memo would find her running afoul of Britains Official Secrets Act, which criminalizes the leaking of intelligence-related information. Later, she gave the document to a friend, who passed it onto a contact in the anti-war movement, until it finally landed with journalists Martin Bright and Ed Vulliamy The Observer. So it was a pretty awful thing to happen to her. Though celebrated Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg would later call Guns actions the most important and courageous leak in history due to her efforts to save lives through preventing a war, she obviously didnt succeed in stopping the invasion. "And she then said: 'My way into this is what would I as the unadorned, no-makeup, no-fancy-edges Keira Knightley what would I feel like if this memo landed on my desk?'". Liberty, the civil rights organisation, and Ben Emmerson QC had already agreed to defend me and we prepared for trial. Guided by her conscience, Katharine Gun defied her government and leaked the memo to the press, setting off a chain of events that jeopardized her freedom, her safety, but also opened the door to putting the entire Iraq invasion on trial. Id immediately be transported back to GCHQ and that email the anger I felt and the decisions I made. As opposed to trying to be Katharine Gun. She didnt know where he was for three days and she took the train down from Charlton to London to see the MP, Nigel Jones, who said exactly what he says in the movie. The team of hawks circling George Bush had long wanted to take out Saddam Hussein, as did Bush. Questioner: It was so heartening to hear you talk about that hero's journey because I feel like we so often take compassion, passion, integrity for granted as a call to action. It should take the facts as they lead. Gavin Hood: I asked her the same questions, and on about my second day interviewing her, I said to her, because I wasnt sure if I should make the movie; I mean, I needed to know whose story I was telling and if she was batshit crazy. I admitted the leak and my life was turned upside down. So she went along to this interview, and she was 28. Please help keep the independent journalism of Common Dreams strong. Daniel Ellsberg, the celebrated American whistleblower who leaked the Pentagon Papers about the build-up to the war in Vietnam, described it as "the most important and courageous leak I have ever seen".He added: "No one else including myself has ever done what Katharine Gun did: tell secret truths at personal risk, before an imminent war, in time, possibly, to avert it.". Gun had hoped the leak would prick the conscience of the British public, large sections of which were already taking to the streets in opposition to the war. Now someone else may beI don't know if I could hack people's phones and computers, personally. We even got as far as the Old Bailey. Following the incident, Gun struggled to find work that she US firms waiting in the wings read to pump 'billions Parents' fury as schools STILL won't tell them if they are closed tomorrow as teacher strikes continue. Then, the world is safer until the sequel when it all happens again. Which is to say that GCHQ was being asked to dig dirt on foreign officials so that they could be blackmailed, bribed or both in order to secure a UN resolution authorising an invasion. And I went back in 93 and did another two years with the new Department of Health. The concern among many Americans is that claims of an unprovoked, deadly attack by Iran are exaggerated. She said to me, Gavin, I had no problem doing the work that involved a lot of listening in, in order to give information about trade negotiations, to give our country the advantage of trade negotiations when they go. On the other hand, she and Ben, to this day, feel they never got their day in court. '", "The scene where all of us receive this email and we're discussing the memo, that never happened. They failed. It left me in an impossible predicament. David Dayen: How did you think Keira Knightley was an asset in showing that emotional journey throughout the movie? And isnt it also time to re-examine the Official Secrets Act? There's an obvious scene of the immigration deportation. WebAnd they failed, in part, I believe, because Katharine Gun leaked that memo, Official Secrets director Gavin Hood told Democracy Now!. British Secret Service Officer Katharine, then a young bride, risked everything to leak details of the Bush-Blair plan to coerce (possibly blackmail) members of the UN Security Council in order to win their votes to legalize invading Iraq. I know what it is like to watch the system become completely authoritarian. Then the story went He said: "Very close. Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). So WMD may not have been as important, had they gotten that resolution. The email, which was sent by an American NSA official, suggested that the US was just as well aware that it couldnt earn UN support through valid arguments alone: The memo outlined a plan to bug diplomats from non-permanent UN Security Council Nations Chile, Pakistan, Bulgaria, Guinea, Angola, and Cameroon in search of intelligence that could be used to cajole and possibly even blackmail them into supporting the invasion. It is to say that a government, for its own reasons may, either by design or through miscalculation, lead a country into an unnecessary and brutal war. David Dayen: As someone who works on a magazine, it's the ultimate copyediting failure. Perhaps it was no wonder that Tony Blairs government decided to abandon the case without offering any evidence. WebKatharine Gun (ne Harwood), 47, is married to Yasar Gn, a Turkish Kurd, with whom she has a 13-year old daughter. Well, you don't have one and get that almost anti-climactic moment that is a punch in the gut," said Hood. She will not talk about it anything else. And it's a tough profession in many ways. One is kind of what I thought it was, which is the CIA is the Central Intelligence Agency, walled off from politicians and the executive in a perfect world, where all the intelligence comes in, they analyze it and they then present their best intelligence estimates; this is pre-war, youre not at war, to the executive branch. As a result of the story the paper published 10 years ago this weekend, she was arrested, lost her job and faced trial under the Official Secrets Act. Koza was in effect issuing a direct order to the employees of a UK security agency to gather "the whole gamut of information that could give US policymakers an edge in obtaining results favourable to US goals or to head off surprises". Perhaps they don't trust him to keep his word. In the years following, an author called Marcia Mitchell contacted me and said she was keen to write a book about my case. Not the truth, but the war. WebWhistleblower Katherine Gun, right, is played by Keira Knightly in the movie Official Secrets View gallery Gun was outraged after she learned - as part of her job with GCHQ - that What It Feels Liketo Survive a Chemical Attack. In leaking it to the Observer, she was also doing something unprecedented in the history of espionage. 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