And I had already not been able to eat for about 24 hours. 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. delivered to your inbox every day! Gun was outraged after she learned - as part of her job with GCHQ - that the United States wanted . Gun told Bright in 2013, "There seems to be this blas attitude - the spying goes on . It was with the help of MP Nigel Jones that Gun finally managed to free Yasar, reasserting his right to stay in the UK. You know, youre the attorney general. [5], On 13 November 2003, Gun was charged with an offence under section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1989. We are defending ourselves. He was Kurdishhe is Kurdish. It is not often that a persons character is revealed in two sentences. Which agency was it? Why did you drop the case? ED VULLIAMY: Mr. Alton, screechy, ultra-right-wing. And, you know, he had nothing on him. You think everyone sees on your face that youre the leaker. And they said they would try their best. And at some point, with great respect to Lord Goldsmith, he caves. The law requires you to. 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Theyre watching, you know, video games and bombs landing on Baghdadshock and awe. 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. The trials and tribulations of daringly telling the truth and facing its consequences must certainly not be a light burden to bear. MARTIN BRIGHT: Well, they didnt even say why. You dont know who the GCHQ person is. You hardly told anybody what you had done. GAVIN HOOD: They failed. AMY GOODMAN: You mean period dramas of strong women have to be a hundred years ago. And so, we went down together to internal security, and they called Scotland Yard. But, I mean, I ended up being a whistleblower myself within that organization. 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. (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.) 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. MARTIN BRIGHT: You know, I mean, you dont want to get too conspiratorial about this. These were the six "swing nations" on the UN Security Council that could determine whether the UN approved the invasion of Iraq. Something like. AMY GOODMAN: So then you have Scotland Yard taking over. Were also joined by Martin Bright and Ed Vulliamy, the two journalists who reported Guns revelations in The Observer newspaper, at a time when the paper was editorially openly supporting the Iraq invasion. AMY GOODMAN: You succeeded in preventing his deportation. GAVIN HOOD: By Ralph Fiennes. Almost a million Iraqis. But I felt this information was explosive, it needed to get out. The implosion continues. There is a small group of us, she says. And they failed, in part, I believe, because Katharine Gun leaked that memo. KATHARINE GUN: Well, OK, I know I was guilty in the facts of the matter. is katharine gun still married to yasar. When he didnt come out, I was panicking, you know, and I ran inside. 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.. The side of that history that Gun didnt really know in its fullest detail until she worked on the film was the drama of how the story made it into the pages of the Observer. ", "US plan to bug Security Council: the text", "Let's free the Official Secrets Act from its cold war freeze | Alex Bailin", "Leaking or briefing? Gavin Hoods 2019 film Official Secrets is the thrilling political drama that explores the events that followed British linguist Guns 2003 media leak. One foundered for lack of funds, another strayed further from the truth than she would have liked. And you had a showing in San Francisco. The second act of the movie is concerned with the internal newspaper politics of that decision. So her moral certainty was rooted in those formative experiences? And I went back to Martin. She was arrested and charged with breach of the Official Secrets Act. I grew up in Taiwan, which was a military dictatorship. [4], After spending her childhood in Taiwan, where she attended Morrison Academy until the age of 16, Katharine returned to Britain to study for her A-levels at Moira House School, a girls' boarding school in Eastbourne. AMY GOODMAN: And when did that come out? There are 15 members of that council, and there are these nonpermanent members who could swing the vote in favor of an invasion of Iraq in U.N. resolution. But jokes aside, the reason she said to methe reason I constantly find myself going. Woman who tried to stop a war. This is a rush transcript. Macdonald stated that Gun would not have received a fair trial without the disclosure of information that would have compromised national security. Guns story is not only an inspiration to her own daughter, but also to people around the world trying to be honest and brave citizens. If we found other information, it may have been different, but this information seemed to show us that wed been lied to. AMY GOODMAN: Ed Vulliamy, you were the U.S. correspondent for The Observer. Shes beginning to understand the issues, but she hasnt seen it yet. Katharine Gun was a young specialist working for Britains Government Communications Headquarters when she exposed a highly confidential memo that revealed the United States was working with the United Kingdom to collect sensitive information on United Nations Security Council members in order to pressure them into supporting the Iraq invasion. And when he didnt come out, I was panicking, you know, and I ran inside. And after about three weeks of this meeting these extraordinary people, I said to Jed, I think I think I would like to do this. And thats where the story came from. Official Secrets, directed by Gavin Hood, is the third in a loose trilogy of political . But to discover that it was such a young and such a junior employee was extraordinary to us, yeah. Shes out. ED VULLIAMY: Yes. But a part of me thought: Damn we could have put the war on trial. KATHARINE GUN: No, she hasnt. It was in character, I think. And, with great respect, I think he did. AMY GOODMAN: And a story that could have saved so many lives, except. In the film, Official Secrets, she is played by Keira Knightley. I felt that I had done the morally right thing to do. And now you go back into work. Well, extremely. How dodo they join the dots? AMY GOODMAN: And so, you had to sell this. I dont have to be in makeup or wardrobe for hours. And she just said what she loved about Katharine isand I hope this isnt said the wrong way, and I keep saying itshes one of us. 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. You work for the British government, her interrogator said, with a sneer. 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 . AMY GOODMAN: They said you could have pled. 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. 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. I was aware I was doing something I wasnt supposed to be doing. AMY GOODMAN: No, you thought it was routine when he walked in. And a fireman does that if he bashes your house down to get to you. Guns leak was perhaps the last example of whistleblowing that involved a red telephone box and a photocopier, rather than downloads. The repercussions of a lot of what happened are still being felt today.. [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. You know, my initial instinct was Ive got to remain anonymous. And that was it. AMY GOODMAN: And then what happened? And they had already taken him down into the custody suite, which is, by the way, where I had been before, Gun revealed. Certain friends did not want to see me any more, or be seen with me some people get very paranoid. Gun splits her time between Turkey and Britain. British linguist, translator and whistleblower, This article is about the British whistleblower. 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. So, where is Gun now? So. AMY GOODMAN: And, Katharine, describe that moment, when you come into court in this very dramatic waybut this is not just a feature film; this is your lifeand youre facing years in prison, your husband not there because youre concerned he will become the story as a refugee in Britain. [13] Speculation was rife in the media that the prosecution service had bowed to political pressure to drop the case so that any such documents would remain secret. A New Film Tells Her Story, 15 Years Later: How U.K. Whistleblower Katharine Gun Risked Everything to Leak a Damning Iraq War Memo, Links to news stories (20032006) about Katharine Gun, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Katharine_Gun&oldid=1149317616, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2020, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 11 April 2023, at 13:29. It just means that the job is even more difficult than it was before. You have the U.S. in the longest war in U.S. history, in Afghanistan. KATHARINE GUN: Oh, no. All I want to do is feel the emotions that this young woman felt, and dont want to be fussed over. And it was great.
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