The classified email Gun got leaked to The Observer was evidence of the clandestine attempt of the American intelligence to reportedly seek help from the UK in wiretapping the members of the UN Security Council to motivate them to vote in favor of the invasion of Iraq. This is notthis fringe idea of the war has never ended since 1991, what nonsense. Yes. The last few hectic days have left her relieved and happy, she says, but completely uncertain as to her future. And they had already taken him down into the custody suite, which is, by the way, where I had been before, Gun revealed. Katharine Gun (ne Harwood), 47, is married to Yasar Gn, a Turkish Kurd, with whom she has a 13-year old daughter. They said, Plead out., AMY GOODMAN: We dont want you to go to jail for years. At the time, Katharine Gun was working for Britains Government Communications Headquarters, known as GCHQ. "[12] In May 2019 The Guardian stated the case was dropped "when the prosecution realised that evidence would emerge that even British government lawyers believed the invasion was unlawful. Now, that doesnt mean we shouldnt try to hold them to account. And at some point, with great respect to Lord Goldsmith, he caves. AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I am currently reading a book about how to blow the whistle. I had made a film called Eye in the Sky, with the producer Ged Doherty, and we were looking for another project to do together. Guardian Australia acknowledges the traditional owners and custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, waters and community. Many wonder whether Guns young daughter has seen the film or been told of the importance of her mothers extraordinary actions. After they charged me, thats when they tried to deport my husband. 'Official Secrets': The True Story Behind the Keira - Newsweek Now, the defense of necessity is usually used in very more simple circumstances. Congratulations are in order for Fox News personality Kat Timpf and her beau Cameron Friscia! This is Democracy Now! AMY GOODMAN: And so, you decide to go back and revealwho was it that was questioning you? Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Some of the information that would have been revealed at her trial, in particular Lord Goldsmiths conflicting arguments as to the legality of the invasion, did not fully emerge until the publication of the report of the Chilcot inquiry in 2016. GAVIN HOOD: Ben Emmerson. AMY GOODMAN: Works for the attorney general. Keira Knightley plays Katharine Gun in the film Official Secrets (Photo: eOne) Now living quietly in Turkey, Gun has been thrust into the global spotlight once again . And she said, I have to go, mostlyto find strong female characters, I have to go back 100 and 200 years and wear a corset to play a strong female character. And she said, This isI want to do this, because its a strong female character not in a corset. And I justI just determined to deny it. Strange concept, but you do. And that was it. I mean, no ones going tono crocodile tears over that. Some people have very low tolerance of wrongdoing, whether it is fiddling expenses, or whatever. This is, sadly, a story of failure. Also with us, the director of Official Secrets, Gavin Hood. I had, you know, encounters with Blair. She said, you know, its ironic that here we are in the age when women now have the vote, and theyre supposed to beand were all supposed to be equal, and yet so many roles are still about women being the sidekick, women being raped, so much violence, use ityou know, a woman whos in jeopardy. And they attempt to deport your husband, who is a? When Gun was approached with the idea for a script by Gavin Hood (who had recently made Eye in the Sky, the film about drone warfare, with Helen Mirren), the pair of them first talked for five days in London, getting the story straight. Because it offered her both a resolution, and none? That is a tricky question, she says. Gun was outraged after she learned - as part of her job with GCHQ - that the United States wanted . He was going in every week to basically prove that he was still resident or that they could pinpoint where he was. However, during one such trip, her husband was detained by the authorities. AMY GOODMAN: You succeeded in preventing his deportation. Rob Schenck, introduces newly named Senior Fellow Dr. Joel Looper and his new book, Bonhoeffer's America: A Land without Reformation. Is that when you both met? Interview with Joel Looper by Schenck Talks Bonhoeffer But it is tempting to believe that is the case with Katharine Gun. That is a difficult question, she says. I was very exercised about what was happening. These folksbecause there are two legal ways you can go to war in international law. With no life insurance and unpaid maternity leave on the horizon, Mary Katharine forged ahead with a singular conviction. She becomes the corporate sister-daughter, she dives into the power suit and high-waisted pants or Katharine Hepburn moment. [9] Gun spent a night in police custody, and eight months later was charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act. No need to prove anything further. We speak with a British whistleblower whose attempts to expose lies about the Iraq invasion was called the most important and courageous leak in history by acclaimed Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. But anyway. No need for weapons of mass destruction arguments. We still dont know who Frank Koza is, or hes still not given a public interview about about what went on. Now, Martin, at this point, youve defended your story. Megan (Knightley) is having a quarter-life crisis after her boyfriend proposes, so she escapes for a week to her new friend, a 16-year-old named Annika's ( Chlo Grace Moretz) house . (modern). Something like. Gun, a translator with the British intelligence service known as Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), received a document just before the war from an NSA manager, seeking British intelligence support in spying on . 'Official Secrets' Reveals How Little We Still Know About the Push for GAVIN HOOD: Yes, strong women. I mean, the pack of cards has gone from Afghanistan to Iraq to Syria. Whatever you think of Kamala Harris, you can say, Which America do you want? So, you are there standing alone in the dock. Maybe there will be sympathy.. Im going, No, II dont. He said, Just google Katharine Gun and official secrets. So I googled official secrets Katharine Gun, becausethe title of our film comes from the Official Secrets Act, which is what she breached when she leaked the memo. I wanted to go to the making of the filmKeira Knightley, did you meet with her?and also ask you, Gavin, about Keira taking on this role. MARTIN BRIGHT: Yes, we had a great, a dramatic moment at the Q&A session. I had had my own story on the fabrication of the weapons of mass destruction, the existence of a shadow intelligence-cooking agency within the Pentagon, which we at The Observer had for five months before Sy Hersh, with great respect to Sy, published it in The New Yorker. Among them were Reverend Jesse Jackson, Daniel Ellsberg (the US government official who leaked the Pentagon Papers), and Congressman Dennis Kucinich. I mean, this is difficult for me to say this, but, for those of your viewers who are interested in what happens in the mediaMartin and I, here we are, doing our bestthe two people involved, who are in the film, ED VULLIAMY: The top people are, respectively, managing editor of the Daily Mail, which is a sort of rather. Theyre watching, you know, video games and bombs landing on Baghdadshock and awe. I mean, obviously, at that point, then felt very sorry that someone had been arrested, but it was a huge relief at the time. I met her in August in Durham, when she was on a brief visit to see her father. It was in character, I think. But then I thought, Well, no, I just cant go on calling in sick. So I went in, and my manager said, you know, Katharine, you look dreadful. Katharine Gun Husband: Learn Everything About Iraq War Whistleblower And nor do newspaper stories. I hadnt realised the extent to which Martin in particular had gone out on a limb for this at the paper. British linguist, translator and whistleblower, This article is about the British whistleblower. I mean, thisI dont want this to sound sanctimonious. It opens on August 30th. Its a paper that supported fascism between the wars, and sort of still does, in its way. Good for him. During the season 5 finale of American Idol, Katharine McPhee was named the runner-up against winner Taylor Hicks. KATHARINE GUN: Well, I mean, its terrifying. Interview: Whistleblower Katharine Gun. KATHARINE GUN: Well, hes Turkish, from a Kurdish background, yeah. And looking back, its easy to be nostalgic about how things were with Bush and Blair, because it looks like these people were easier to hold to account. GAVIN HOOD: And then, for five days, I interviewed Katharine and just made notes. Read More: Is Official Secrets a True Story? Zooey Zephyr, Montanas First Trans Lawmaker, Speaks Out After Being Banned & Silenced by Republicans, Rising Tide of Fascism: Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones Warns of GOPs Growing Embrace of Authoritarianism, Courage Is Contagious: Zooey Zephyr & Justin Jones on the GOPs Silencing of State Lawmakers, Provocative & Dangerous: Biden to Send Nuclear-Armed Subs to South Korea as Activists Demand Peace, Oklahoma Parole Board Denies Clemency for Richard Glossip, Rejecting Plea from State Attorney General. So. Katharine Gun is the Most Important Whistleblower You've Never Heard of. Somebody says, Lord Goldsmith, the defense to your charge against Katharine Gun is they want your documents. Case dropped. So, I just lay that out, really. MARTIN BRIGHT: Well, I wasof course, the irony of the situation is that when we heard that a GCHQ employee, a 27-year-old GCHQ employee, Mandarin translator, I think we even said at the time, had been arrested, we were absolutely delighted, because we knew for sure that we had a big story at that point. If the war was illegal and she broke the law in order to expose an illegal war and potentially save hundreds of thousands of lives, I can use this defense of necessitythats usually used in more mundane, dare I say, contextsin this great political trial., And so he says, All right, now I need to know whether the war was legal or illegal. And he says, I need to find out what Lord Goldsmiths, the attorney-generals, legal position was in the run-up to that war. Youre breaking the speed limit. And nor did the story end. Youre the guy who got the goods on the author of the memo in the NSA, who wrote to GCHQ and said, Were going to bug the U.N. ambassadors.. And I can remember sitting back and thinking, This guy is not all there. . As of 2019[update] she has lived in Turkey with her husband and daughter for several years. I mean, we certainly did meet in the courthouse. AMY GOODMAN: And a story that could have saved so many lives, except. No one else including myself has ever done what Gun did: tell secret truths at personal risk, before an imminent war, in time, possibly, to avert it.. AMY GOODMAN: Well, explain that. The war did not end when George W. Bush said, Mission accomplished. It was only just beginning. Published on May 3, 2021 08:23 PM. . Plead out. KATHARINE GUN: Devastation. [5] Less than a week after the Observer story, on Wednesday 5 March, Gun confessed to her line manager at GCHQ that she had leaked the email, and was arrested. But deep inside me, I didnt feel guilty. When asked by Salon how it felt to see a famous actress act out her life for an audience . I do not gather intelligence so the government can lie to the British people., Sixteen years have passed since Katharine Gun said those words, but they still ring in the air. The law requires you to. Initially, Gun decided to teach Mandarin Chinese in Britain. AMY GOODMAN: And so, you had to sell this. ED VULLIAMY: Its a story of endeavor, to no avail. Inside the world of ministers' secrets", "Iraq war whistleblower's trial 'was halted due to national security threat', "Official Secrets: A Conversation With Director Gavin Hood", "Official Secrets review Keira Knightley excels in Iraq war whistleblower drama", "15 Years Later: How U.K. Whistleblower Katharine Gun Risked Everything to Leak a Damning Iraq War Memo", "Film on British whistleblower's life to hit Turkish theaters", "Whistleblowerin Katharine Gun - "Ich wrde es wieder tun", "Sundance 2019: Premieres Include Harvey Weinstein Docu, Mindy Kaling, Dr. Ruth, UK Spies, Miles Davis & Ted Bundy", "Daniel Ellsberg speaking about Katharine Gun", In 2003, This U.K. Whistleblower Almost Stopped the Iraq Invasion. 15 Years Later: How U.K. Whistleblower Katharine Gun Risked Everything Your defense becomes: It was necessary to break the law in order to achieve a higher purpose, which is the saving of human life. AMY GOODMAN: And did they say they were going to charge you with the Official Secrets Act? This is her story. Keira Knightley as Katharine Gun in the film Official Secrets. Guns leak was perhaps the last example of whistleblowing that involved a red telephone box and a photocopier, rather than downloads. I think its important for people to find that truth and follow through on it, Gun opined, and its certainly worth remembering. It is not often that a persons character is revealed in two sentences. ED VULLIAMY: Yes. AMY GOODMAN: This is the NSA guy who wrote the memo. I mean, I think we did feel that we journalisticallyyou know, we could have done more as a newspaper. And, he says to me, she explained that Goldsmiths positionif I called for those documents, I would find out that he had been consistently saying that war without a U.N. resolution would be illegal. I felt awful after I denied it. You know, I felt totally at ease in her company. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. "[15], In September 2019 Ken Macdonald, the former director of public prosecutions, said the case against Gun was not dropped in order to stop the Attorney General's advice on the legality of the Iraq War from being revealed. They knew the difference between truth, lies and propaganda. KATHARINE GUN: It was GCHQ internal security, yeah. Within half an hour, the case was dropped because the prosecution declined to offer evidence. Gavin Hoods 2019 film Official Secrets is the thrilling political drama that explores the events that followed British linguist Guns 2003 media leak. You work for the British government, her interrogator said, with a sneer. She then went on to get a Masters degree in Global Ethics. I think most people have red lines that they wont cross. There have been other attempts to make a film over the years. [5], On 13 November 2003, Gun was charged with an offence under section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1989. Official Secrets, directed by Gavin Hood, is the third in a loose trilogy of political . AMY GOODMAN: And then what happened? I mean, thats why MartinI remember Martin and Ed. Young, in love, with a beautiful toddler and a baby on the way, Mary Katharine expected her husband of four years, Jake Brewer, to return from cycling in a charity event. And Mr. Ahmed is now the editorial director of the BBC, the revered BBC. AMY GOODMAN: Ed Vulliamy, you were the U.S. correspondent for The Observer. And all of a sudden the news media is not interested in how we got into the war. The Observers front page story on 2 March 2003. AMY GOODMAN: Who is played in the film by? I mean, I dont think we imagined that we would be still friends and still talking about it 14, 15 years later. Never used in the idea of, youve broken the law, breached the Official Secrets Act. And I called Jed back, and I said, This is an amazing way into how we got into the Iraq War, thatwhy isnt it better known? And he saidI said, Could I come and meet Katharine? But jokes aside, the reason she said to methe reason I constantly find myself going. Katharine Gun is a British Linguist and Iraq War Whistleblower. BBC NEWS | UK | Politics | Interview: Whistleblower Katharine Gun You want to know where he is?. I wanted to stop bombs dropping on Iraq., The consequences have been damaging not just for Guns career. You think everyone sees on your face that youre the leaker. This is Democracy Now! He says, Wait a minute. You know, this is hundreds of thousands of people killed. is katharine gun still married to yasar. So, was that Frank Koza? Whistleblower Katherine Gun, right, is played by Keira Knightly in the movie Official Secrets. Well, if Bush and Blair could have got a U.N. resolution, they would have had perfect cover for going to Iraq without having to bring up the WMD, the weapons of mass destruction, argument, because the whole weapons of mass destruction argument is the self-defense, that they needed a legalyou know, you do want to be going to war legally. It is loud, clear, confident, creative, interesting. The comedown after they dropped the case, and trying to recover from that, was quite stressful.. Laggies. ED VULLIAMY: Yes. ED VULLIAMY: Thank you. Gun has spoken at the 51Fest and conferences arranged by organizations such as the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). KATHARINE GUN: No, nothing atwell, they said they were arresting me on suspicion of breaking the Official Secrets Act. KATHARINE GUN: No, I felt a huge sense of relief after I had, you know, confessed. There is no single answer to that, she says, but Bright had the best stab at it: The only thing you can do is do your job right, and be a good citizen., In other words, she says, whatever your job is, do the things that you are supposed to do. Following the dropping of the case, Liberty commented, "One wonders whether disclosure in this criminal trial might have been a little too embarrassing. He would have had to have the authority of Lord Goldsmith to prosecute.
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