And nor do newspaper stories. Gun splits her time between Turkey and Britain. By Ben Davies BBC News Online political staff at the TUC in Brighton There is something about Katharine Gun that makes her seem an unlikely candidate for whistleblowing. I felt awful after I denied it. Many wonder whether Guns young daughter has seen the film or been told of the importance of her mothers extraordinary actions. Katharine Gun: Ten years on what happened to the woman who revealed [9] Gun spent a night in police custody, and eight months later was charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act. Ed Vulliamys character, played by Rhys Ifans in the film, says, you know, he effing caved at the time when his country needed him most. So, they immediatelywell, first of all, my manager said, What would you like to do? And I said, Well, pfff, what can I do? You know, we have to tell internal security. This is her story. Thats [inaudible]. March 29, 2023 Posted by is vimto squash good for you; She worked at the time at GCHQ, the British equivalent of the NSA." Just occasionally Gun is invited to speak at conferences organised by the likes of accuracy.org or VIPS (the Veterans Intelligence Professionals for Sanity). AMY GOODMAN: Were going to leave it there, and I want to thank you all so much for being with us, Katharine Gun, the whistleblower; Observer journalists at the time, Martin Bright and Ed Vulliamy; and Gavin Hood, who is the director of Official Secrets, the story of Katharine Gun revealing the lies that led to the Iraq War on both sides of the ocean, in Britain and the United States, and led to so many deaths. British linguist, translator and whistleblower, This article is about the British whistleblower. Katharine Gun Official Secrets True Story Interview - Esquire KATHARINE GUN: Well, I mean, its terrifying. KATHARINE GUN: Yeah, I was very excited to meet Keira in London before they started shooting. After they charged me, thats when they tried to deport my husband. Indeed, your point about Bush is right. Gun was asked by Special Branch officers why she had chosen to act as she had. So, where is Gun now? And they failed, in part, I believe, because Katharine Gun leaked that memo. I met her in August in Durham, when she was on a brief visit to see her father. AMY GOODMAN: But so, did you have any conversations with the former prime minister at the time, Tony Blair? We met in London. I hope, when shes ready for this story, she will. Film 'Official Secrets' is the Tip of a Mammoth Iceberg 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. And at some point, with great respect to Lord Goldsmith, he caves. All rights reserved. He left the Observer not long after the events it describes and now runs the Creative Society, a charity that helps widen access to jobs in the media and the arts to candidates with non-traditional backgrounds. What Happened to Katharine McPhee? Find Out Where the - Yahoo The repercussions of a lot of what happened are still being felt today.. At the time, Katharine Gun was working for Britains Government Communications Headquarters, known as GCHQ. The implosion continues. And the situation, the toxic abomination of Brexit in our country, has sort of rehabilitated Blair in a sort of bizarre way. I didnt want to be that. 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. 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. It was weird. AMY GOODMAN: The people Martin was fighting to get this story out. Katharine Gun: Ten years on what happened to the woman who revealed Katharine Gun, a shy and studious 28-year-old who spent her days listening in to obscure Chinese intercepts, decided to tell the world about a secret plan by the US government to spy on the United . My childhood friend, for example, I remember hearing her father was on a blacklist because he had been agitating for the opposition. In the film, Official Secrets, she is played by Keira Knightley. It doesnt matter if you catch them out in a lie, because they dont care, because they lie as a matter of course, and they change what they say from day to day. Youre, KATHARINE GUN: And then I was taken away. The film stars Ma. And they had already taken him down into the custody suite, which is, by the way, where I had been before, Gun revealed. And the case was dropped. Anyway. 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. Whatever you think of Kamala Harris, you can say, Which America do you want? But, I mean, I ended up being a whistleblower myself within that organization. Katharine 'Kay' Griggs knows what it's like to have a gun pointed in her face. Iraq All Over Again? And Where Is Katharine Gun? - LA Progressive One question that recurs, she says, comes from audience members asking what they should do, how they should behave, in the current mendacious political climate. KATHARINE GUN: Well, OK, I know I was guilty in the facts of the matter. Full Interview: Frank Mugisha on New Anti-, Former Guantnamo Prisoners Ask Biden to Let Them Keep Art They Made to Escape Inhumane Conditions, Part 1: In 2003, This U.K. Whistleblower Almost Stopped the Iraq Invasion. Katharine Gun and Martin Bright could be forgiven for fielding Hollywood's overtures with a degree of skepticism. What does she hope people will take from the film? [12] A government spokesman said that the decision to drop the case had been made before the defence's demands had been submitted. That whole period undermined the judicial process, it undermined the parliamentary process, and it undermined the media and press and the intelligence service. We are all of us living, she believes, with the consequences of that. The simple fact is, she says: Truth always matters at the end of the day., Official Secrets is released on 18 October. Gun has spoken at the 51Fest and conferences arranged by organizations such as the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). But, yes, I did. And I went back, and I felt worse that day at home. You know, this is hundreds of thousands of people killed. 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. When you think, Oh, well, I wish we tried hard with the Americanwith our American colleagues. AMY GOODMAN: So then you have Scotland Yard taking over. 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 mean, youre talking about the editorial leadership of The Observer, the editor-in-chief. You dont do you? So, you get this memo. The little-told story of British intelligence whistleblower Katharine Gun leaves a trail of unanswered questions worth probing, even 16 years later, . Iraq 'Dirty Tricks' Tale Gets Star Treatment, But Big Questions Remain And I didnt want to have a record. "[12], Two years after her trial, Gun wrote an article titled "Iran: Time to Leak",[22] which asked whistleblowers to make public any information about plans for a potential war against Iran. Ahead of a new film, Official Secrets, the GCHQ worker who tried to prevent the 2003 invasion of Iraq recalls those feverish days and their consequences Keira Knightley on playing whistleblower Katharine Gun: Iraq was the first time Id been politically engaged. Consider donating here. MARTIN BRIGHT: You know, I mean, you dont want to get too conspiratorial about this. I mean, my initial encounter with him at the Faith Foundation was extremely concerning, in fact, because he said that what he wanted me to do was develop a heat map, you know, an interactive map of all the madrassas, you know, Islamic schools, around the world, with my tiny team of two or three interns, showingand he looked me in the eye, and he said, I want you to be ableI want people who are looking on our website to be able to see how radical those madrassas are, by color coding.. You come home. We thought maybe it would be some crusty old senior guy from a rival agency. I think. Dont just swallow what politicians tell you. When Katharine Gun came across a memo while working for the British government in 2003, her whole world changed. We pay respect by giving voice to social justice, acknowledging our shared history and valuing the cultures of First Nations. I mean, I dont think we imagined that we would be still friends and still talking about it 14, 15 years later. You think everyone sees on your face that youre the leaker. And at the end of the Q&A, I went to try and find him, and hed gone. Iraq war whistleblower Katharine Gun: 'Truth always matters' Katharine Gun - who's played by Keira Knightley in a forthcoming film - blew the whistle on a dodgy scheme by the American government. You know, the conservative estimates are 125,000 up to a million. This is Democracy Now! If you are a journalist, check and double-check your sources. And all of a sudden the news media is not interested in how we got into the war. AMY GOODMAN: No, you thought it was routine when he walked in. This is Democracy Now! whistleblower and former specialist for Britains Government Communications Headquarters. GAVIN HOOD: And then, for five days, I interviewed Katharine and just made notes. [5] Gun heard no more of the email, and had all but forgotten about it until Sunday 2 March, when she saw it reproduced on the front page of The Observer newspaper. delivered to your inbox every day! She urged "those in a position to do so to disclose information which relates to this planned aggression; legal advice, meetings between the White House and other intelligence agencies, assessments of Iran's threat level (or better yet, evidence that assessments have been altered), troop deployments and army notifications. AMY GOODMAN: They said you could have pled. Her performance reminds you of the sentiment of Daniel Ellsberg, the man who famously leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in 1971, revealing the full truth of American involvement in Vietnam. Katharine Gun's case can also be very relevant for Julian Assange's defense: "Within half an hour, the case was dropped because the prosecution declined to offer evidence. KATHARINE GUN: to police custody, yes, and kept overnight in a police cell. [8] The plan might have contravened Articles 22 and 27 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which regulates global diplomacy. KATHARINE GUN: Actually, time-wise, I was bailed for eight months. The Observers front page story on 2 March 2003. But on the other hand, its just a deeply personal story aboutand I hope Katharine will forgive me saying thisabout an ordinary person, like one of us, who does something extraordinary. GAVIN HOOD: They failed. He gets more and more pressure from Blair. And Ben comes up with this idea. AMY GOODMAN: Katharine, has your 11-year-old daughter seen the film? Katharine Gun is the Most Important Whistleblower You've Never Heard of. Initially, Gun decided to teach Mandarin Chinese in Britain. . No, Gun replied, steadily. AMY GOODMAN: And the U.S. is still in Iraq. Gun discusses her attempt to stop the Iraq War, which is the subject of the new movie Official Secrets. It was with the help of MP Nigel Jones that Gun finally managed to free Yasar, reasserting his right to stay in the UK. KATHARINE GUN: Well, hes Turkish, from a Kurdish background, yeah. She was arrested and charged with breach of the Official Secrets Act. Never used in the idea of, youve broken the law, breached the Official Secrets Act. What I did is a very unusual thing to do, because the results are not generally good. That was in this moment, moment by moment, as the story evolves, what would it feel like if you were in her shoes. As Katharine Gun told me during our "Salon Talks" conversation, being played by Keira Knightley in a movie was approximately the last thing she ever thought might happen to her. Frequent Fox News guest and conservative commentator Mary Katharine Ham announced the death of her husband, Jake Brewer, on Sunday morning in a heartfelt Instagram post . MARTIN BRIGHT: Not until around the time of the trial. About five months or something? If we found other information, it may have been different, but this information seemed to show us that wed been lied to. Im on the whole a fairly shy person, she confessed in an interview. I thought you said youre sick. And I said, I need to talk to you. And so we went into a small room, and I just said, I did it. And then she put her arm around me and went, Oh, Katharine. And then I burst out crying. You know, youre not waiting for someone for hours in makeup. KATHARINE GUN: No, nothing atwell, they said they were arresting me on suspicion of breaking the Official Secrets Act. 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. GAVIN HOOD: Almost a million. So I was in a dreadful state. Iraq war whistleblower Katharine Gun: Truth always matters. Yes and no. [5] In 1993 she began studying Japanese and Chinese at Durham University. Following the incident, Gun struggled to find work that she loved, and her husband had grown disillusioned with Britain. diamond a ranch new mexico hunting using the weber burger press what does it mean when a willie wagtail follows you. KATHARINE GUN: And also, Im justwell, whether its natural inclination or whether its what was kind of drummed into us at GCHQ, but it was, you know, this the sense of being private and not trusting journalists or people who are trying to ferret out information from you. 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. This was a huge story, crushed by a bigger story. Counted amongst the likes of Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and John Kiriakou is Katharine Gun, a whistleblower whose actions revealed the shocking underbelly of international politics and also inspired a big-budget movie that introduced many to the issue. AMY GOODMAN: So, the Daily Mail, very sympathetic also to President Trump. Some journalist needs to go and have a hardcore interview with Lord Goldsmith. to your inbox each morning. And then I went on to interview Martin and Ed and then Ben Emmerson, the lawyer. Youre terrified. AMY GOODMAN: Ed Vulliamy, you were the U.S. correspondent for The Observer. Look at those bombs falling on Baghdad. 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. It opens on August 30th. Mary Katharine Ham - Smart Women Smart Money Magazine So. Fox News' Kat Timpf Marries Cameron Friscia: See the Photos - People Katharine Gun: The GCHQ whistleblower who tried to stop the Iraq War on "[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. 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: Works for the attorney general. Of course he does. 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. Youre breaking the speed limit. "[5], Gun's regular job at GCHQ in Cheltenham was to translate Mandarin Chinese into English. I was calling Nigel Jones, my MP. And I dont know how authentic it appeared to the person interviewing me, but I just felt terrible. Do you think shed meet with me? Because I think we were both a little skeptical of each other. AMY GOODMAN: Now, he goes in for a regular check-in. So, of course, it was justyou know, he was kind of thinkinghe knew I worked for the intelligence services, but he didnt know what that was. Official Secrets, directed by Gavin Hood, is the third in a loose trilogy of political . So, Lord Goldsmith decides to prosecute Katharine Gun. She is played, with steely English resolve, by Keira Knightley. " Gun tails off, as if embarrassed to make too grand a claim for herself. And that was it. "[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. This is a rush transcript. I mean, I think we did feel that we journalisticallyyou know, we could have done more as a newspaper. GAVIN HOOD: Chile, Bulgaria, Angola, Cameroon, Pakistan, Mexico. These were, as I said before, bitter times. You were just waiting. (In fact, those -our and -ise endings had been introduced by an Observer editorial assistant, innocently following house style guidelines as she copied out the memo into the system.) He didnt know I had leaked this memo. Please do your part today. The film -- quite plausibly -- depicts the charges being dropped against Gun for the simple reason that the British government feared . In this episode of Schenck Talks Bonhoeffer, TDBI Founder and President, Rev. Who is Katharine Gun's Husband? Where is Katharine Gun Now? I was teaching Mandarin in the local college in Cheltenham. KATHARINE GUN: No, she hasnt. AMY GOODMAN: Who is played in the film by? Whats the defense? And yeah, it was absolutely terrifying. Katharine Teresa Gun (ne Harwood; born 1974) is a British linguist who worked as a translator for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). Katharine Gun at Bow Street magistrates court in 2003 after being charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act. The Tony Blair Conscience Fund or something? You know, I felt totally at ease in her company. ED VULLIAMY: Thank you. Then we see her become this woman who's starting to really know herself and starting to try and identify her own feminine being and trying to find her own place in the boardroom as a woman, as an entity, as a sister and . Who is her husband? Ellsberg has called Katharine Guns action the most important and courageous leak I have ever seen. Get Democracy Now! ED VULLIAMY: Well, he was the political editor at the time, who was giving me a lot of trouble over getting my cooked intelligence story into the paper. And he didnt come back out again. Does she think that was a unique belief among colleagues at GCHQ? Rob Schenck, introduces newly named Senior Fellow Dr. Joel Looper and his new book, Bonhoeffer's America: A Land without Reformation. [5] In February, she travelled to London to take part in the demonstration against the impending invasion of Iraq. But a part of me thought: Damn we could have put the war on trial. Some people have very low tolerance of wrongdoing, whether it is fiddling expenses, or whatever. In fact, Iyou know, I couldnt bear to watch the scenes. AMY GOODMAN: You only lasted what? Her father had studied Chinese at Durham University and now teaches at Tunghai University in the city of Taichung, central Taiwan. Starring Kiera Knightley, Matt Smith, Matthew Goode, and Ralph Fiennes in pivotal roles, the film is one of the more accurate cinematic explorations of real-life instances. There is a Guardian Live preview screening with Katharine Gun, Gavin Hood and Martin Bright on 12 October. And he was the barrister who ultimately put the case before the court, as short as that trial was, on behalf of Katharine, and came up with a truly original defense to the Official Secrets Act, which is the defense of necessity. AMY GOODMAN: And Alton went from The Observer and ultimately made his way, ED VULLIAMY: Via variousvia Rupert Murdochs Times, yes. Gun is not active on social media and occasionally participates in small-scale conferences and discussions pertaining to politics. MARTIN BRIGHT: Well, they didnt even say why. AMY GOODMAN: This is the NSA guy who wrote the memo. Somebody says, Lord Goldsmith, the defense to your charge against Katharine Gun is they want your documents. Case dropped. Its a paper that supported fascism between the wars, and sort of still does, in its way. MARTIN BRIGHT: We didI tell you what, though, we did feel that we had failed. I mean, we certainly did meet in the courthouse. Katharine Gun & Martin Bright Interview - Official Secrets Don't worry, we won't share or sell your information. She was the real-life translator who photocopied . Protesters against the invasion of Iraq, February 2003. The comedown after they dropped the case, and trying to recover from that, was quite stressful.. And the potential chink in the Official Secrets Act we had found, which could have become a defence for others, the defence of necessity [of speaking up to save imminent danger to life], it wasnt tested in court.. Shes ordinary. KATHARINE GUN: No, I felt a huge sense of relief after I had, you know, confessed. And so, theyre first prize was get the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution saying that we, as a collective United Nations, are going to take out Saddam Hussein. [20] After the charges against her were dropped in 2004, she found it difficult to find a new job. I wish I could have written that scene. Woman who shot and killed boyfriend says she didn't know her gun had a One foundered for lack of funds, another strayed further from the truth than she would have liked. [6] Gun had previously been unaware of GCHQ, later saying that "I didn't have much idea about what they didI was going into it pretty much blind. Its incredibly daunting, you know. But she sails in with Gavin and comes straight up to me and goes, Oh, Katharine! and gives me a big hug. I mean, really, these people need to be held accountable for what theyve done. . 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The legal case against Gun was eventually dropped by the British government in 2004, after her lawyer, Ben Emmerson QC (played in the film with fabulous charisma by Ralph Fiennes), threatened to use disclosure to put the legal basis of the war itself on trial. This U.K. Whistleblower Almost Stopped the Iraq Invasion of 2003 Plead out. I work for the British people. And nor did the story end. [21], Gun received the Sam Adams Award for 2003 and was supported in her case by the UK human rights pressure group Liberty and in the US by the Institute for Public Accuracy. [5], On 13 November 2003, Gun was charged with an offence under section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1989. 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. And Jed called me up and said, Have you heard of Katharine Gun? And you get this moment where you feel like you should have, because of the way hes saying it. She becomes the corporate sister-daughter, she dives into the power suit and high-waisted pants or Katharine Hepburn moment. I felt awful. Shes beginning to understand the issues, but she hasnt seen it yet, Gun said in 2019 when her daughter was 11-years-old. We have sort of, you know, I want to take my country back from all those Portuguese nurses and Polish plumbers, that we really must get rid of, and sort of whats best for Britain. You know, we dont have an opposition in our country, whereas you do in yours, thank god. 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. In the very typical British manner, we just pretended we had never met.. I think youll find hes hiding in plain sight. And there was a dramatic hush in the audience. In 2003, Katharine Gun, a young specialist working for Britain's Government Communications Headquarters, exposed a highly confidential memo that revealed the United States' collaboration with . You werent particularly worried. And they said they would try their best. We could haveyou know, you always have regrets, dont you? But my closest friends stuck by me.. But deep inside me, I didnt feel guilty. These were the six "swing nations" on the UN Security Council that could determine whether the UN approved the invasion of Iraq. You know, banks of civil servants couldnt do that. ED VULLIAMY: Yes. AMY GOODMAN: Well, explain that. 'Official Secrets' sheds light on the story of U.K. whistleblower I havent watched the films about either of them, she says. And really, you know, she had so many questions for me, and she really genuinely wanted to know about the whole situation.
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