Because it's just an Executive Branch trying to grab power as an authoritarian. You see it most vividly in that scene where everybody stops calling Martin Bright, or they start canceling all the interviews. David Dayen: And you were dealing with a story that was about a leak that didn't stop a war and leading to a trial that didn't happen. You may not know the name Katharine Gun unless you live in the United Kingdom, but she was a pivotal figure in the run-up to the Iraq War. The point of all of this is painfully obvious. Then, the following November, after eight months of worry, I was finally charged. 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. There's an obvious scene of the immigration deportation. ", Hood added: "You know, to this day, I mean, the real journalistic question is, who would like to go and really press Lord Goldsmith and Ken McDonald for the reasons why they really dropped their case? Only later did I appreciate the extent to which the journalists involved Martin Bright, Peter Beaumont and Ed Vulliamy had to go in order to prove that the email was legitimate. And I went back in 93 and did another two years with the new Department of Health. Meanwhile, Kamal Ahmed, who is the guy at The Observer, is now the editorial director of the BBC. Yet here was a story that had the capacity to derail the war altogether. We need another Katharine Gun. This is a story about my life and my leak after all, and I still believe in the issues passionately. For several years, just recalling the events would set my heart racing and my hands trembling. And I didnt have work where I was. Theres not a lot of work for translators; shes a Mandarin translator in England. We were in development with a particular studio, and I don't mean to be funny after such a heavy film but sometimes we need a little bit of humor. 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 It's a fascinating film that really evokes the dangers of speaking out in the post-9/11 age, as well as the press's inability to challenge the official story on Iraq, particularly the U.S. press, which really just blacked out the Gun leak entirely. Please, become a member, or make a one-time donation, today. She said, You mean I dont have to wear a corset? To your point, in some way, she said to me, As a woman, its kind of ironic as an actress that I so often, even though Im in the modern world, that I have to find heroic women in period dramas wearing corsets. Theres something weird about that. And that I think was the motivation. WebYou may not know the name Katharine Gun unless you live in the United Kingdom, but she was a pivotal figure in the run-up to the Iraq War. She talks about having read all these books [about the war]. Martin Bright, who is in the movie very briefly I guess, is no longer in journalism as I understand it. 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. Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. 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. Gavin Hood: Its a question of how conditioned are we to the conventional Hollywood structure. But I do want to give her credit that I think I didn't do her justice enough in the moment that she leaked that memo; it changed so quickly to war that we don't really get a moment to absorb the fact that as a result of her leaking that memo, there was no vote at the UN Security Council. But she still was not uncomfortable with the other things we've talked about. From nightmares to candy cravings, the seemingly innocuous habits in Man is banned from touching every parking meter in Liverpool for two years after being convicted of theft, Katharine Gun, Gchq Whistleblower For The Mail On Sunday, Do not sell or share my personal information. I was 27 when it all began. On the other hand, she and Ben, to this day, feel they never got their day in court. WebAttempts were made by the authorities to deport her husband, who grew disillusioned with Britain. KatharineGun did not stop the war,but was it all entirely in vain? Healthy mother-of-two, 32, collapsed and died from brain bleed while she led fitness bounce class. Her husband said its a job, its just a goddamn job, I work at a caf. He really wouldnt; that scene in the movie really happened. After the leak was published, hundreds of staff inside the building were questioned in order to discover the identity of the whistleblower. Now someone else may beI don't know if I could hack people's phones and computers, personally. Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. I could put a lens on, and now my job is, this actress is doing great work, lets not get tricky, lets just get the audience into her eyes so that you could see those cogs moving. 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. Gavin Hood: Yes, it really sticks in my throat too. Chile and Mexico and the other smaller countries were so outraged that they refused to even bring it to a vote. "Obviously, we are compressing a story that took place in real life over a period of a year into two hours. Sometimes movies can be an effective way to make forgotten stories part of our national narrative, and in that sense, Official Secrets comes not a moment too soon. I dont know if theyd have discovered me eventually, but the fact is I couldnt live a lie for ever. But again, I cant help but make some small jokes about these things. That kind of propaganda has to stop. Is this a matter of threatening to launch a war, or is it a matter of responding to the US positioning itself for war? He said she didnt even know what the job was. For the Observer too, it was a story full of risks. 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". Our institutions matter. Well, you don't have one and get that almost anti-climactic moment that is a punch in the gut," said Hood. To separate fact from fiction, Newsweek spoke to the real Gun and Bright, as well as Official Secrets director Gavin Hood. And it's a tough profession in many ways. As one of the journalists who broke the story, I feel a certain responsibility for how things have turned out. When my moment came, I found myself standing alone in the dock facing the judge and surrounded by lawyers, journalists and supporters. Truth about Covid care home testing row: Timeline lays bare what was said, by who and when. Later, it turned out that the Attorney General had indeed judged the war to be illegal in his initial advice, but that fact was not revealed until six years later in 2010. Perhaps they don't trust him to keep his word. I became a mother, we moved countries and I have come to terms with that year of my life, though it will always define me in some ways. So important was this email, I knew it might even derail the case that Tony Blair was making for joining the Americans in an invasion. Before 1989, there had been a Public Interest Defence to protect whistleblowers, but that was altered amid the furore surrounding the sinking of the Argentinian Navy cruiser, the General Belgrano, in the course of the Falklands War. I even thought, naively, Id be able to keep my anonymity. It should take the facts as they lead. We were to target such things as phone calls and emails from their homes as well as their places of work. As the title of the film script suggests, she was "The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War". And they failed, in part, I believe, because Katharine Gun leaked that memo, Official Secrets director Gavin Hood told Democracy Now!. Following the incident, Gun struggled to find work that she And it was there that, to our amazement and totally without warning, the CPS dropped the charges before the trial had even started. Photograph: Andy Hall for the Observer, en years ago, a young Mandarin specialist at GCHQ, the government's surveillance centre in Cheltenham, did something extraordinary. I never thought Id be choosing a dress for a red carpet appearance at a major film festival. Progressive values. Actually, there were two incidents at sea, blamed originally on the North Vietnamese. It is probably still too early to tell. WebKatharine Gun was a young specialist working for Britains Government Communications Headquarters when she exposed a highly confidential memo that revealed the United As the Trump administration shreds norms of American governance like a Shih Tzu going to town on a roll of toilet paper, the last worst president is largely silent, busied with .css-umdwtv{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:.0625rem;text-decoration-color:#FF3A30;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:background 0.4s;transition:background 0.4s;background:linear-gradient(#ffffff, #ffffff 50%, #d5dbe3 50%, #d5dbe3);-webkit-background-size:100% 200%;background-size:100% 200%;}.css-umdwtv:hover{color:#000000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;-webkit-background-position:100% 100%;background-position:100% 100%;}canine portraiture and now the subject of nearly fond nostalgia. Ed, I know some people have said that Rhys Ifans [who plays Vulliamy] is slightly over the top. So I said to her at one point, and its in the movie because her interrogator said it too and you would ask her the same question, which is Katharine I hear all this, but it was a little muddy, you worked as a spy, you hacked peoples phones and computers, you do dirty tricks. They're more polite to their suspects. At first, I heard nothing. WebKeira Knightley stars in this true story about Katharine Gun, a British intelligence officer who exposed the US government's efforts to force the UN Security Council to sanction the Only now, more than a decade and a half later, is this disturbing sequence of events once again receiving the attention it deserves thanks to Official Secrets, a brilliant new movie starring Keira and former Doctor Who, Matt Smith. These superheroes, and I don't just mean superheroes in the movie sense, but larger-than-life big political figures, or Edward Snowden is almost mythical in his brilliance whether you like what he did or not, he is sort of not me. But she said she would still be prepared to give evidence to the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war. Americans find it hard to believe that it could happen, but it happens, it happens fast. Last week in Los Angeles, I got to interview the director, South African-born Gavin Hood, after a screening. And people do this in every country; they spy, they listen to what are the Chinese going to do when they get to this conference. And she said, Yep, I have no problem being asked to listen in, in instances where I might help prevent a terror attack. What this memo suggested was neither of those things it was a bridge too far for her. She hoped that if people know about the lengths to which theyve gone to legitimize an invasion of Iraq, then it would blow apart, and people will suddenly think, No, this isnt right, and the whole house of cards would come tumbling down.. So, Im not really answering your question well, but her feeling was just: Now I dont belong in this company. Thank you! Every day we worked together for about five to six hours and then I referred back to her many times, subsequently, but I had literally just said, let's start at the beginning and let me hear first-hand from you your story and then I'll tell that story. He is just way out there in a whole other realm. If if wasnt, what does that mean for the rule of law? It was what I was thinking, what I was feeling. To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page. When I got to the interview thats when they told me that its for GCHQ, I didnt know what GCHQ did. So, I think she entered the world out of a sort of strange curiosity. And she said, I dont work for the government. That was my first thoughtwhat do you mean you dont work for the government? It was both exhilarating and just a little uncomfortable. Interestingly I think we faced a challenge, which some of you may or may not agree with. Provocation? ", Keira Knightley and Katharine Gun at the London premiere of "Official Secrets. 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.". To legitimize an invasion and get rid of Saddam, a new UN Security Council resolution, going beyond SC1441 and specifically sanctioning the invasion, was the answer. That seems like the central undercurrent that is playing throughout the entire film. 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. Ive been impressed by the film-makers determination to stick to the facts Gavin Hood, the director, interviewed me at length over five days and I was consulted throughout the process. It almost started with, well, would I have the courage to do what she did in another setting maybe? She wasnt planning to get caught and then the dilemma was, My friends are all going to have their lives ruined.. None of the Government reports into the war acknowledged it, nor did the history books. Because it was toughthe guy wouldnt print his stuff. This is a special case because this story is very little-known in the United States. We started working on this three years ago and even then it felt relevant in the sense that the challenges we talked about earlier: Where does my loyalty lie? And it's not an easy question, it sounds easy, but I don't think it is. I answered an advert in The Guardian newspaper for a translator. But there's no way I would have expressed that to any of my colleagues," Gun explained. Does your loyalty lie to your own conscious, does your loyalty lie to your marriage, does your loyalty lie to your government, does your loyalty lie to your country? I sensed a slight flash of anger as she said: "It's not even a footnote in the history of Iraq." Since 2003, my life and Gun's have continued to cross from time to time. We all, in some ways, make these decisions. And in her case, she risked both her job and her freedom and whatever you think of her politically, I think that takes some guts. David Dayen is the Prospects executive editor. Now the goal is not truth, it is victory. Or at least, she could have been. 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. "Because I think people see thatthe leaders of both the US and the UK conceivably could be considered war criminals, and yet they are walking free.". 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. As of 2020 Gun lives in Turkey and Britain. It was the first time I had worked with characters who were still alive, and they very much wanted it to be accurate or they wouldn't sign over their life rights. Liberty, the civil rights organisation, and Ben Emmerson QC had already agreed to defend me and we prepared for trial. Not only was the cable the most sensitive ever to be disclosed on either side of the Atlantic, it was also unique in its timing. The true story of a British whistleblower who leaked information to the press about an illegal NSA spy operation designed to push the UN Security Council into sanctioning the 2003 invasion of Iraq. And Assange is the same. But George W. Bush did something that, thankfully, Trump hasnt pulled off yet: He took us to war. The contents were explosive, implicating America in a blackmail plot to swing UN votes in favor of an invasion. Some called her a traitor; others the waning support for public institutions today. Who knows whether they would've bent those other nations to vote for a resolution. And those two are great actresses. It was almost as if that request was asking for someone within their own nation to do this work; it wasn't asking another completely independent state for co-operation.". Surely, she thought, when people realised that the UK was being asked to collaborate in an operation to find out personal information that could be used to blackmail UN delegates, they would be outraged and the UK government would halt its slide into war. In real life, "the spellcheck largely happened through a series of phone calls," according to Bright, "because on a Sunday newspaper we don't work on a Sunday, and we don't work on a Monday. "One of the things that we discovered quite early on when he was interviewing me was that a lot of stuff was just happening in my head. So it was a pretty awful thing to happen to her. The decision to leak it was almost instant I felt I had no choice. WebGun was followed, denied legal advice and her Turkish husband faced deportation. It left me in an impossible predicament. What do I do? And that was my way in. Now there is the possibility that Gun's singular life will be made into a movie. 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