But I watched Blair with his smug smile and his sterile speeches that tell us nothing . And on the face of it, it looked like an extraordinary story. AMY GOODMAN: So it was sort of chicken scratch on the back. It wasn't that she was naive. Bush had agreed to this to help Blair. And she sees this memo that says that the evidence for going to war would not be based on intelligence of whether there were WMD, but on trying to get something on the U.N. Security Council members, personal or whatever, to get them to vote for the invasion, to back President George W. Bush. Hood's film dramatizes events in 2003 and 2004, beginning with British whistleblower Katharine Gun's decision to leak a memo exposing the criminality of the Iraq War and ending with her . I couldnt see beyond this war and all I wanted to do is just to put a spoke in the wheel of this wagon. He was going in every week to the authorities to prove that he was still a resident and kept an eye on his location to pinpoint where he was. The British governments own lawyers were afraid that without specific UN authorization, the war might be illegal; British soldiers could even be prosecuted for war crimes. 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. AMY GOODMAN: The guy at the NSA. And your memo, that you had leaked, was right front and center. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images), https://thespectator.com/topic/katharine-gun-spy-iraq-war/, US edition of the world's oldest magazine, Katharine Gun: the spy who tried to stop the Iraq war, How Syria became the worlds most profitable narco state, How the earthquake is strengthening Syrias dictatorship, Why Netanyahu is right about Israels rogue supreme court. AMY GOODMAN: Which takes us to Mr. Martin Bright. She was sitting at her computer in GCHQ when an email arrived from one Frank Koza, chief of staff at the regional targets division of the US National Security Agency. I work for the British people. Katharine Gun in the Liberty office, 2019. Whistleblowing on wrongdoing is part of that fightback. A union rep got in touch to offer support, and once news broke that an unnamed woman had been arrested for the leak the story caught the attention of the organisation whose offices we're sitting in. They were going use information gathered from the intelligence to either bribe or blackmail them into voting for this war. Official Secrets is released in cinemas on the 18th of October, 2019. He was forced to resign, because it showed that he called President Trump inept, and he said, you know, the singular reason that the Trump administration pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal was because it was signed by President Obama, and other issues. It was too dangerous to make the 20-minute drive from the airport to the British base in Basra. But its just because the copy editor ran it through spell check. AMY GOODMAN: But, Katharine Gun, youre home. What were you employed to do? Theyre basically cooking it. Jack Goldsmith, former head of the Office of Legal Counsel under President George W. Bush, discusses the limits of executive power with Christiane Amanpour. Never even come close to it! "And I immediately decided the public should know the lengths the Americans were going to in order to secure legitimacy for this war. It actually didnt really make a big difference at all., Gun and her legal team decided to fight charges in late 2003. Bush never wanted yet another UN resolution and when one failed to arrive, Blair decided it wasnt needed after all. In 2003, Katharine Gun was working for Britains Government Communications Headquarters, known as GCHQ, the intelligence agency similar to the National Security Agency here, when she opened a top-secret NSA memorandum. Theyd already escorted him down to the custody suite and begun the process. . I couldn't control myself I was a total state, crying and trembling.". . Some of it was to do with complications over an unfortunate spell check within the memo. You know, look at me. ED VULLIAMY: Well, oh, indeed, brilliantly played his subject. Then the story went away, and that's how I wanted it at that time, because I was actually quite traumatized by the whole thing. She did add, however, that she's hopeful the film will shed much needed light on the subject. TINTIN: So, you work for the British government. Were talking about Official Secrets. Please do your part today. Keira Knightley says she doesn't think she'd have the courage to follow in the footsteps of the "true hero" whistleblower Katharine Gun, whom she plays in new thriller Official Secrets . The email was a request to tamper with the debate of whether or not to invade Iraq. But when her name was released to the press, she did a few interviews before trying to reclaim her anonymity. Katharine Gun. Latest Martin Milner Net Worth Income Salary, Andrew Witty Biography , Wife Age, Family Salary & Net Worth: UnitedHealth Group CEO, Blaize Pearman Wikipedia, Net Worth, Age, Bio, Mother Lydia Gaulden. And I went home and thought about it over the weekend. Five years later after her fourth divorce, she married her fifth husband, Sam Elliott. AMY GOODMAN: Tony Blair was the prime minister of Britain at the time. It is tough for me to be in the public domain againbut I felt like it was a good thing. Katharine Gun who's played by Keira Knightley in a forthcoming film blew the whistle on a dodgy scheme by the American government. KATHARINE GUN: Governments change. Required fields are marked *. KNIGHTLEY: Governments change. The AFI Life Achievement recipient discusses her most memorable filmsand what moviegoers actually misremember. When an American is asked to define the term whistleblower," they will probably reference Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning. Former British intelligence officer Katharine Gun didn't set out to become a whistle-blower. When Katharine Gun came across a memo while working for the British government in 2003, her whole world changed. Eight months later, she was charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act. This is Democracy Now! Katharine Gun was a translator at GCHQ, when she received an email in her inbox from Frank Koza, a leading figure in the American National Security Agency. Were joined also by Martin Bright, who is the journalist who reported Guns revelations in The Observer, as well as Ed Vulliamy. Our Daily Digest brings Democracy Now! I had no idea what was going to happen to me and my life kind of came to a standstillit was a struggle emotionally, financially, mentally, said Gun of that time. The plan was to persuade them simply to abstain by piling up enough votes from other countries. Two weeks later, on the 15th of February, 2003, a million people took to the streets of London to protest the prospect of Britain joining the war in Iraq. Yes, I mean, these were, as Martin has suggested, divisive, divided, bitter, difficult times. But this needed finding Koza. ONLINE:YouTube: http://youtube.com/democracynow Facebook: http://facebook.com/democracynow Twitter: https://twitter.com/democracynowInstagram: http://instagram.com/democracynowSoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/democracynow iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/democracy-now!-audio/id73802554 Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe We had at least a name. MARTIN BRIGHT: Yeah, so, initially, we were quite nervous. Katharine read the content carefully, and immediately felt sick to her stomach: it was a classified directive from the American authorities asking the British to spy on six UN Security Council members. Marcia Mitchell is a writer, researcher, and the author of "The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War: Katharine Gun and the Secret Plot to Sanction the Iraq Invasion." This and her other writings about intelligence issues have been critically acclaimed. AMY GOODMAN: Wait a second. UNIDENTIFIED: This proposed war is historically unpopular. So, today, at the age of 59, Cary Stayner is incarcerated at the San Quentin State Prison. Thanks so much for joining us. Together they have a 13-year-old daughter. I could tell this email was pretty explosive.". Gun, youre a spy. This month, a new film Official Secrets, in which she's played by Keira Knightly will be released, telling her story. In November 2002, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1441, which called on Iraq to get rid of chemical and biological weapons and long-range missiles. Im Amy Goodman. This is viewer supported news. We're looking at the real-life political thriller of a British intelligence specialist, Katharine Gun, who risked everything to blow the whistle on U.S. dirty tricks at the United Nations in the lead-up to the Iraq invasion in 2003. Katharine Gun. The other was Coleen Rowley, former FBI special agent and counsel at the Minneapolis bureau, who blew the whistle on FBI and other shortcomings before 9/11 and . In his memoir of office, Decision Points, George W. Bush writes about going to see Tony Blair in the Azores in the last days before the invasion of Iraq in 2003. It was a crisis meeting because they had failed to get a second UN resolution, to give legal cover for the war. Tell us the moment. MARTIN BRIGHT: Yes. And truth was having a hard time at The Observer at that point. AMY GOODMAN: So, that was Katharine Gun back in 2004. I work for the British people. I do not gather intelligence so that the government can lie to the British people. Bush remembers his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, saying to him: I hope thats not the last time we ever see them.. because my husband wouldn't . The diplomats were due to vote on a second United . And its so relevant to be talking about this today, as the British government is talking about cracking down on the leaker of the memos of the British ambassador to the U.S. that forced him out. She has then attributed to being a huge source of information to the medias watch. Theyre cooking this up. There was speculation that this was done to keep the governments legal advice on the war a secret, though that has been denied. You walk in. KATHARINE GUN: No. What Really Happened During the Making of. Guns story being told in Official Secrets. Our obligation is to the truth. Katharine Gun (Katharine Teresa Harwood) was born on 1974 in United Kingdom, is a Linguist. This was thought crucial to help Blair and his government survive a no-confidence motion in the House of Commons. AMY GOODMAN: This is a remarkable story. We do not accept funding from advertising, underwriting or government agencies. Official Secrets. Koza's email outlined an American plot to conduct surveillance on the United Nations offices in Angola, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea and Pakistan to find out whether they would vote in favour of supporting the American invasion of Iraq. 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