Following the dropping of the case, Liberty commented, "One wonders whether disclosure in this criminal trial might have been a little too embarrassing. I hope when shes ready for this story, she will [see the film]. I felt like saying, I tried to tell you this seven times, and you would not let me print it. You know, it's tough. You dont do you? The war did not end when George W. Bush said, Mission accomplished. It was only just beginning. But I felt this information was explosive, it needed to get out. KATHARINE GUN: It was GCHQ internal security, yeah. It was shown in the Castro Theatre. This is notthis fringe idea of the war has never ended since 1991, what nonsense. KATHARINE GUN: Well, yeah, yeah. Fox News' Kat Timpf Marries Cameron Friscia: See the Photos - People 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.. 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. You work for the British government, her interrogator said, with a sneer. So, no, I mean, I didnt want to say I was guilty when I didnt feel guilty. He gets more and more pressure from Blair. GAVIN HOOD: Theres an outrage. That is a difficult question, she says. And they attempt to deport your husband, who is a? Hood uses chemistry among each character to bring them to life. Attempts were made by the authorities to deport her husband, who grew disillusioned with Britain. So, GCHQ had been aware of this for over 24 hours, and they were waiting for everybody to come back into work on Monday, and they were prepared. Dr. She was 27. We met in London. For the past nine years she has been living in Turkey with her Turkish husband and their 11-year-old daughter. But, you know, it. Katharine 'Kay' Griggs knows what it's like to have a gun pointed in her face. Now, that doesnt mean we shouldnt try to hold them to account. I wish I could have written that scene. Given my experience I would want to hear what happened from the horses mouth, I think.. I wonder what she made of the scattershot download methods of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange? AMY GOODMAN: Were you actually in the car with him, waiting for him to go in for his check-in? This is Democracy Now! You know, this is hundreds of thousands of people killed. [12] A government spokesman said that the decision to drop the case had been made before the defence's demands had been submitted. They were just going to pick him up, and took him out. But lets go back to the moment. You authorized her prosecution. 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. . GAVIN HOOD: They failed. He would have had to have the authority of Lord Goldsmith to prosecute. Theyre watching, you know, video games and bombs landing on Baghdadshock and awe. [5] While at work at GCHQ on 31 January 2003, Gun read an email from Frank Koza, the chief of staff at the "regional targets" division of the American signals intelligence agency, the National Security Agency.[7]. Gun discusses her attempt to stop the Iraq War, which is the subject of the new movie Official Secrets. And she said, Gavin, I dont want to wear makeup. You get pulled over. [5] In February, she travelled to London to take part in the demonstration against the impending invasion of Iraq. And I had already not been able to eat for about 24 hours. GAVIN HOOD: Well, its interesting you say that, because one of things Keira said to me that drew her to the script was, first of all, that she didnt have to wear a corset, because she does all these period dramas. MARTIN BRIGHT: No, it was the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. They called for your documents. Also with us, the director of Official Secrets, Gavin Hood. But he certainly was suggesting that people would know. The repercussions of a lot of what happened are still being felt today.. The difference, I think, is that hereand your program and your viewers are testimony to thisyou have an opposition. I mention those lines about working for the people rather than the government. Why did you drop the case? to your inbox each morning. The Whistleblower Who Almost Stopped the Iraq Invasion So, you know, it doesnt end, as Martin said. So, where is Gun now? Something like. How Did Catherine the Great's Husband Really Die? - Harper's BAZAAR We sat in the bar of a city centre hotel, and talked about the ancient history of 2003. 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. You didnt have that kind of support. GAVIN HOOD: What she discovers saysis a request from the NSA to GCHQ to hack, bug the private communications and the office communications of U.N. Security Council members, in particular the nonpermanent members, the more junior members. One foundered for lack of funds, another strayed further from the truth than she would have liked. KATHARINE GUN: Yeah. And at the end of the Q&A, I went to try and find him, and hed gone. 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.. Details at membership.theguardian.com. A New Film Tells Her Story, Part 2: 15 Years Later: How U.K. Whistleblower Katharine Gun Risked Everything to Leak a Damning Iraq War Memo, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License, John le Carr (1931-2020) on the Iraq War, Corporate Power, the Exploitation of Africa & More, U.S. Plans Migrant Processing Centers in Latin America and Rapid Deportations from Southern Border, Food Shortages Worsen in Sudan as Battles Continue Despite Ceasefires, Abortion Ban Bills Fail in South Carolina and Nebraska, Keeping Abortion Legal Until 22 Weeks, Climate Protesters Descend on Podesta Talk to Demand Biden Admin Halt Fossil Fuel Projects, Mike Pence Testifies Before Jan. 6 Grand Jury, Vice News Tonight Canceled as Vice Media Fires Over 100 Staff, White Woman Whose False Accusation Led to Emmett Tills Lynching Dies Without Ever Facing Justice, Jeffrey Sachs on Chinas Historic Push for Multipolar World to End U.S. It was very difficult initially. Gun had, of course, been forced to abandon her career in the civil service and finally, struggling for work, left Britain altogether. There is a small group of us, she says. How often does she go through that fateful weekend, where she wrestled with her conscience after seeing the memo? Among them were Reverend Jesse Jackson, Daniel Ellsberg (the US government official who leaked the Pentagon Papers), and Congressman Dennis Kucinich. GAVIN HOOD: She did work for the attorney general, right up until a matter of weeks or so before the war, at which point, when he changed his mind, under massive pressure, having visited Washington and spoken to Gonzales and all the various lawyers who worked for Rumsfeld and Bush and Cheney, and theyd sold him on this idea of using Resolution 678, which authorized the 1991 Gulf War, and said, Really, that war didnt end, and were really still at war with Iraq. And he says, Well, I called Elizabeth Wilmshurst, who is the assistant attorney general, who had resigned. Film 'Official Secrets' is the Tip of a Mammoth Iceberg Was she immediately frightened of the consequences? With no life insurance and unpaid maternity leave on the horizon, Mary Katharine forged ahead with a singular conviction. And all we were focused on was what might it felt like in this moment to have been Katharine. The author advocates anonymity. KATHARINE GUN: No, nothing atwell, they said they were arresting me on suspicion of breaking the Official Secrets Act. Spoiler: After Katharine Gun's identity became known, we at the Institute for Public Accuracy brought on Jeff Cohen, the founder of FAIR, to work with Hollie Ainbinder to get prominent individuals to support Gun. Soon after, they moved to Turkey in 2011, and for the most part, the family has stayed away from the public eye. KATHARINE GUN: My MP, yes, at the time. AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. KATHARINE GUN: And yeah, becauseanyway, he was going in every week to basically prove that he was still resident or that they could pinpoint where he was. Iraq now, nightmare. These folksbecause there are two legal ways you can go to war in international law. And that if the perpetrators in these situations get away scot-free, that has a knock-on effect. And at some point, with great respect to Lord Goldsmith, he caves. It was with the help of MP Nigel Jones that Gun finally managed to free Yasar, reasserting his right to stay in the UK. As Coordinator for Shalom Mission Communities, a peace church fellowship near the southern border, Joel, his wife, Anali, and their new baby girl, Daniela Bea, are actively helping . He was Kurdishhe is Kurdish. Woman who shot and killed boyfriend says she didn't know her gun had a 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. KATHARINE GUN: Actually, time-wise, I was bailed for eight months. And I went back, and I felt worse that day at home. 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. Iraq 'Dirty Tricks' Tale Gets Star Treatment, But Big Questions Remain I would love to know. As well as illuminating Guns story, though, the film gives what was, by any standards, one of the great scoops of recent British journalism the credit that is long overdue. Shes not wearing tons of makeup. 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. Truth has a habit of finding a voice, however. Whistleblower Katherine Gun, right, is played by Keira Knightly in the movie Official Secrets. Gun told Bright in 2013, "There seems to be this blas attitude - the spying goes on . 'You've caused an international incident': how my work mistake came . 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. On the one hand I was relieved because my life wouldnt have to be scrutinised in court. BBC NEWS | UK | Politics | Interview: Whistleblower Katharine Gun We thought maybe it would be some crusty old senior guy from a rival agency. We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work. Watching the film was like watching a case that was very similar to my own: Katharine Gun, photographed last month in Durham. Initially, Gun decided to teach Mandarin Chinese in Britain. KATHARINE GUN: Well, OK, I know I was guilty in the facts of the matter. Im going to start with you, Gavin. Mary Katharine Ham - Smart Women Smart Money Magazine 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. How Lurking On Wall Street Influenced 'Succession' Fashion Plead out. 'Official Secrets' depicts the inspiring and true events of Katharine Gun Of course he does. In the movie, her husband (Adam Bakri) is initially portrayed as a civilian, perceiving her job to be mundane. The online Drudge Report used the fact that the reproduced NSA memo used English spelling to cast doubt on its veracity. Photo: Kevin RC Wilson. MARTIN BRIGHT: Yeah, I must say, when I found out how young she was, it did take me by surprise, and the fact that she was a translator. is katharine gun still married to yasar - agcoz.com Although Katharine Gun returned to the public eye in 2019 for the promotional press events for Official Secrets, she has largely retreated from the medias gaze since. How Katherine Knight Slaughtered Her Boyfriend And Made Him Into Stew And yeah, it was absolutely terrifying. We, as a collective group of countries, decide that we need to stop an event, a humanitarian disaster or a genocide or whatever. Katharine Gun is the Most Important Whistleblower You've Never Heard of. Mr. Davies, in his book, has done more recently, AMY GOODMAN: And he said to you, Martin, at least in the film, This will jeopardize our access.. Yeah, I mean, they knew, in fact, GCHQ, I think, because theres this system whereby, you know, before the news goes to print, the government and various organizations get the front pages, so they know whatslike, before it goes to press. I think our problem now, and I think this applies on both sides of the Atlantic, is that we have populist politicians for whom that doesnt matter. AMY GOODMAN: The San Francisco Film Festival. Our Daily Digest brings Democracy Now! 'Official Secrets': the story of the British spy who tried to stop a war Martin Bright and Ben Emmerson stick by Kathrine the whole time . She grew up in Taiwan, where her father had gone to teach, and her accent is hard to place. KATHARINE GUN: No, she hasnt. 'Official Secrets': The True Story Behind the Keira - Newsweek AMY GOODMAN: And these ambassadors are the ambassadors of? 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. And Im saying, Ben, but how did you know, when you called for those documents, that theyd be there? And theres this pause. AMY GOODMAN: The horror of what you did not succeed in preventing, though, which was the deaths of so many in Iraq, and that continues today, but you certainly touched the conscience of not just the nation, but the world, in what you did, talking about what womanwhat one woman could do. We could haveyou know, you always have regrets, dont you? And all of a sudden the news media is not interested in how we got into the war. AMY GOODMAN: So then you have Scotland Yard taking over. And we had to sit and wait for two hours while they winged it down from London. what is the true story behind the Keira Knightley film? - The Sun Certain friends did not want to see me any more, or be seen with me some people get very paranoid. The country, at the time, was being drummed into war by the Blair government, desperate to achieve the United Nations sanction for the imminent American-led invasion of Iraq. What happened next is the subject of a new Hollywood movie starring Keira Knightley as Katharine Gun. GAVIN HOOD: Ben Emmerson. The trials and tribulations of daringly telling the truth and facing its consequences must certainly not be a light burden to bear. The film stars Ma. Iraq war whistleblower Katharine Gun: 'Truth always matters' The comedown after they dropped the case, and trying to recover from that, was quite stressful.. The first is a U.N. resolution for war. Keira Knightley to star in 'forgotten' story of Iraq war whistleblower So, 600,000 Iraqi people died. My GCHQ career obviously came to an end. AMY GOODMAN: But so, did you have any conversations with the former prime minister at the time, Tony Blair? And, you know, he had nothing on him. It opens on August 30th. KATHARINE GUN: Devastation. Shes confessed to breaching the Official Secrets Act. Thats our job. AMY GOODMAN: So, Katharine, as all of this is unfolding, the U.S. and Britain bomb Iraq. And yet this rather shy 30-year-old leaked details of an alleged plot to bug UN delegates before the Iraq war and was sacked from her . Following the incident, Gun struggled to find work that she loved, and her husband had grown disillusioned with Britain. Lord Goldsmith must have saidI mean, I imagine. And she hadnt said why she had resigned. Her upbringing later led her to describe herself as a "third culture kid". MARTIN BRIGHT: Yeah, I mean, around that time. GAVIN HOOD: This amazing lawyer, with great dignityElizabeth Wilmshurst, whos in the movie, Ralph Fiennes playing Ben Emmersonhas the cup of tea with her. AMY GOODMAN: The people Martin was fighting to get this story out. I felt awful after I denied it. delivered to your inbox every day! And I justI just determined to deny it. Does she tell her story when she meets new people? AMY GOODMAN: But what caused you to say no? Interview: Whistleblower Katharine Gun. I think youll find hes hiding in plain sight. And there was a dramatic hush in the audience. How the NSA Pushed Iraq Invasion - accuracy.org I denied it. I'm Amy Goodman. And you had a showing in San Francisco. The Tony Blair Conscience Fund or something? Macdonald stated that Gun would not have received a fair trial without the disclosure of information that would have compromised national security. I hadnt realised the extent to which Martin in particular had gone out on a limb for this at the paper. I ask her first if it is gratifying to finally have it out there? Hes repackaged himself as sort of the European. I could not get it in. I mean, couldnt have been happier with the casting choice, because Ben Emmerson is a force of nature, absolute force of nature, and a great international lawyer. Her whistleblowing was not enough to change the path of history, of course, and her last-gasp act of courage was all but forgotten in the brutal "shock and awe" of war. AMY GOODMAN: And so, you decide to go back and revealwho was it that was questioning you? AMY GOODMAN: How rarely a woman actress, an actor, gets to play, you know, the protagonist, the solid, strong hero, Gavin. GAVIN HOOD: Yes, strong women. She is also well known as a GCHQ spy. AMY GOODMAN: Shes then arrested. "[22], In January, 2019, the film Official Secrets, recounting Gun's actions in 2003, received its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, with Keira Knightley playing Gun. 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 . We will never know. In 2003, she leaked top-secret information to The Observer, concerning a request by the United States for compromising intelligence on diplomats from member states of the 2003 Security Council.The diplomats were due to vote on a second United . 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.Or at least, she could have been. Guardian Australia acknowledges the traditional owners and custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, waters and community. ED VULLIAMY: Yes, the people who were giving Martin traction to get this story out, and who effectively, according to Mr. Daviess book, censored mine, about the cooking-up of the WMD and the fact that we knew Saddam didnt have any. However, Yasar could not be there for her trial as Gun, and her associates worried that his presence would turn Guns story into that of his as a refugee in Britain. We still dont know who Frank Koza is, or hes still not given a public interview about about what went on. Does she think that was a unique belief among colleagues at GCHQ? [5], Gun graduated with an upper second-class degree, then took a job as an assistant English teacher with the JET program in Hiroshima, Japan. I think I found like the missing piece. Anyway, thats why the scene. 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? You know, my initial instinct was Ive got to remain anonymous. This U.K. Whistleblower Almost Stopped the Iraq Invasion of 2003 AMY GOODMAN: the person in charge of news. And Mr.. KATHARINE GUN: Oh, no. [11], The case came to court on 25 February 2004. 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. Yes. We knew for sure. You know, any tiny lingering doubts we had about whether this was a sophisticated Russian forgery, as some people suggested, or, you knowwe absolutely knew that this was real. 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. A film, Official Secrets, has been made of her story. Katharine Gun - who's played by Keira Knightley in a forthcoming film - blew the whistle on a dodgy scheme by the American government. Published on May 3, 2021 08:23 PM. KATHARINE GUN: Yeah, and he had no money in his pocket. [2] In 2003, she leaked top-secret information to The Observer, concerning a request by the United States for compromising intelligence on diplomats from member states of the 2003 Security Council. 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. MARTIN BRIGHT: I did, yes. We can all have a view on Saddam Hussein and whether he should be deposed or not. With me, it was this. Just occasionally Gun is invited to speak at conferences organised by the likes of accuracy.org or VIPS (the Veterans Intelligence Professionals for Sanity). whistleblower and former specialist for Britains Government Communications Headquarters. Now, the defense of necessity is usually used in very more simple circumstances. And the situation, the toxic abomination of Brexit in our country, has sort of rehabilitated Blair in a sort of bizarre way. Ben Emmerson decides the way to defend Katharine Gun is to ask for Lord Goldsmiths documents. How am I possibly going to do that? Be consistent. GAVIN HOOD: Thats exactly right. In the very typical British manner, we just pretended we had never met, she recalled. I wasno, as soon as he didnt come out, I. Domination, Sing Your Song: Remembering Harry Belafonte, Who Used His Stardom to Help. Ben Emmerson is. Then, Katherine Knight took a butcher knife from next to her bed where she had always kept them and stabbed Price 37 times. You think everyone sees on your face that youre the leaker. The little-told story of British intelligence whistleblower Katharine Gun leaves a trail of unanswered questions worth probing, even 16 years later, . Which agency was it? AMY GOODMAN: I mean, youre the guy who broke the story that showed that Britain was collaborating with the U.S. in trying to get dirt on U.S. ambassadors, AMY GOODMAN: to get them to vote for the war in Iraq, which ended up killingwhat do you say at the end of the film? In fact, Iyou know, I couldnt bear to watch the scenes. AMY GOODMAN: And, Ed, you see whats going on in this country, in the United States, not to mention where youre from, in Britain. 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. 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. 4 4.Katharine Gun: Ten years on what happened to the woman who 5 5.Iraq War Whistle Blower Katharine Gun Shares Her Story | Video - PBS; 6 6.GCHQ whistleblower Katharine Gun speaks out | Daily Mail Online; 7 7.15 Years Later: How U.K. Whistleblower Katharine Gun - YouTube; 8 8.Katharine Gun & Martin Bright Interview - Official . So I was in a dreadful state. Maybe? About five months or something? The woman in her 20s attempted to stop the war and firmly stood to her truthful morals. 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.. ED VULLIAMY: Its a story of endeavor, to no avail. When Katharine Gun came across a memo while working for the British government in 2003, her whole world changed. KATHARINE GUN: Mm-hmm. This is, sadly, a story of failure. 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. Gun owned up to the leak a few days later to save her GCHQ colleagues from a witch-hunt. It wasn't that she was naive . The last few hectic days have left her relieved and happy, she says, but completely uncertain as to her future. But it may say more about the BBC than it does about him, that with this track record you can get to the top. Kay Griggs, Former Marine Colonel's Wife Talks Again - WHALE

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