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. So I was in a dreadful state. For example, youre racing to the hospital with your wife. GAVIN HOOD: And then, for five days, I interviewed Katharine and just made notes. Guns leak was perhaps the last example of whistleblowing that involved a red telephone box and a photocopier, rather than downloads. delivered to your inbox every day! Get Democracy Now! 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. Now, what we were doing when we were breaking this story was we were attempting to show that our governments had lied to us. So, 600,000 Iraqi people died. [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. The second act of the movie is concerned with the internal newspaper politics of that decision. MARTIN BRIGHT: You know, I mean, you dont want to get too conspiratorial about this. 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. And then, on Tuesday, they called me in, and I went in. GAVIN HOOD: Well, for me, what I love about the story is actually, on the one hand, its got this huge global political relevance, and it resonates still today. Katharine Gun - who's played by Keira Knightley in a forthcoming film - blew the whistle on a dodgy scheme by the American government. Maybe there will be sympathy.. Don't worry, we won't share or sell your information. 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. But she sails in with Gavin and comes straight up to me and goes, Oh, Katharine! and gives me a big hug. I felt awful. And I went back to Martin. But as we said last night, this is the purpose of Albert Camuss great story La Peste, when Dr. Rieux is given the child dying of plague. Katharine Teresa Gun (ne Harwood; born 1974) is a British linguist who worked as a translator for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). 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. My marriage to my husband was very new at that juncture, and he had a very unstable status in the UK. 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. Consider donating here. AMY GOODMAN: And this is a critical moment, when you say October, because thats when the U.S. Senate voted to authorize war. AMY GOODMAN: What was it called? I wasno, as soon as he didnt come out, I. I took up teaching. Among them were Reverend Jesse Jackson, Daniel Ellsberg (the US government official who leaked the Pentagon Papers), and Congressman Dennis Kucinich. But this gets out, and suddenly you see it on the front page of The Observer when you go to buy, what, milk in the morning for you and your husband. Im Amy Goodman, as we bring you Part 2 of our extended look at a new film thats out called Official Secrets, thats coming out at the end of August, that tells the story 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. In a way, President Trump has been a gift for the previous president, George W. Bush, because it has really rehabilitated his reputation. Woman who shot and killed boyfriend says she didn't know her gun had a 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. But a part of me thought: Damn we could have put the war on trial. Its all so resonant. And I dont know how authentic it appeared to the person interviewing me, but I just felt terrible. After competing in the singing competition, she launched an acting career and was . Dont just swallow what politicians tell you. I mean, I dont think we imagined that we would be still friends and still talking about it 14, 15 years later. I could not get it in. 101 years old Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson was an American mathematician whose orbital mechanics calculations as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent crewed spaceflights in the United States. Strange Hollywood person. MARTIN BRIGHT: I did, yes. According to evidence, he woke up during the attack but could not fight her off. And we can say that, you know, thatso, he comes back, under all this pressure. We still dont know who within the American administration ordered the operation. AMY GOODMAN: And then what happened? And the case was dropped. Anyway. [5] After contemplating the email over the weekend, Gun gave the email to a friend who was acquainted with journalists. But he certainly was suggesting that people would know. Certain friends did not want to see me any more, or be seen with me some people get very paranoid. AMY GOODMAN: And you actually said you hadnt heard of Katharine Gun at the time, which is interesting in itself, because the story, in a sense, was almost killed for a bit. Within half an hour, the case was dropped because the prosecution declined to offer evidence. 'Official Secrets' Reveals How Little We Still Know About the Push for KATHARINE GUN: Well, OK, I know I was guilty in the facts of the matter. 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. We can all have a view on Saddam Hussein and whether he should be deposed or not. Im sure that what Katharine felt when in 2010 we found out that Lord Goldsmith had declared the war, in his advice, illegal, must have been pretty painful for Katharine to hear, as it was for me when Congress said, I think around 2004, '05, we knew, actually, there were no weapons of mass destruction. We pay respect by giving voice to social justice, acknowledging our shared history and valuing the cultures of First Nations. But that is unbelievably difficult now especially in the digital world.. You dont do you? Katharine Gun Official Secrets True Story Interview - Esquire "The Most Important Leak" -- How Katharine Gun Tried to Stop the Iraq Interview: Whistleblower Katharine Gun. You know, these things happen. My GCHQ career obviously came to an end. The war did not end when George W. Bush said, Mission accomplished. It was only just beginning. I ask her first if it is gratifying to finally have it out there? [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. You know, the conservative estimates are 125,000 up to a million. KATHARINE GUN: Well, I mean, its terrifying. 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. You didnt have that kind of support. I call them the Usual Suspects., She thinks, given the current state of politics, that she might start to speak out more. AMY GOODMAN: Shes then arrested. Shes pregnant. AMY GOODMAN: And when did that come out? 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. So I tried to look for work. Iraq war whistleblower Katharine Gun: Truth always matters. 'You've caused an international incident': how my work mistake came I mean, I think we did feel that we journalisticallyyou know, we could have done more as a newspaper. 'Official Secrets' depicts the inspiring and true events of Katharine Gun If the war was illegal and she broke the law in order to expose an illegal war and potentially save hundreds of thousands of lives, I can use this defense of necessitythats usually used in more mundane, dare I say, contextsin this great political trial., And so he says, All right, now I need to know whether the war was legal or illegal. And he says, I need to find out what Lord Goldsmiths, the attorney-generals, legal position was in the run-up to that war. The Case Against Mary Katherine Higdon 43:11. I mean, youre talking about the editorial leadership of The Observer, the editor-in-chief. It just means that the job is even more difficult than it was before. 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. Many wonder whether Guns young daughter has seen the film or been told of the importance of her mothers extraordinary actions. Katharine Gun at Bow Street magistrates court in 2003 after being charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act. Does she tell her story when she meets new people? Ben Emmerson is. 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? I met her in August in Durham, when she was on a brief visit to see her father. Ellsberg has called Katharine Guns action the most important and courageous leak I have ever seen. 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 . And when he didnt come out, I was panicking, you know, and I ran inside. I think. AMY GOODMAN: Youre watching that on television. Mary Katharine Ham's Husband Jake Brewer Killed - Mediaite And its sothe nonpermanent members, who realized they were being hacked and their personal things were beingin order to try and blackmail them into a vote. [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. [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. . And I can remember sitting back and thinking, This guy is not all there. We are defending ourselves. Following the dropping of the case, Liberty commented, "One wonders whether disclosure in this criminal trial might have been a little too embarrassing. And they said they would try their best. And Im saying, Ben, but how did you know, when you called for those documents, that theyd be there? And theres this pause. She is also well known as a GCHQ spy. 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. AMY GOODMAN: So, and we want to get to all that, but nowwe want to get to all that, but right now youre showing this film around the country. [12] The Guardian newspaper had reported plans to drop the case the previous week. 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. 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. Guardian Australia acknowledges the traditional owners and custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, waters and community.
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