Life carried on. Katharine Teresa Gun (ne Harwood; born 1974) is a British whistleblower who worked as a linguist at the Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ; a British intelligence facility) from 2001 to 2003. In the movie "Official Secrets," the character called Katharine Gun, who is played by Keira Knightley, actually discusses this memo with colleagues at GCHQ. AMY GOODMAN: And talk about whatI mean, you risked everything. 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. Gun, 29, was . AMY GOODMAN: Weve got to make this fast; we have three minutes. It was a Friday when I saw the email. "It was me.". You worked for GCHQ in Britain. 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. Katharine McPhee shared a sweet snap of her 6-month-old son, Rennie, playing with husband David Foster in the cabin of a private jet. But of course that did not stop the war. Sign up for our Daily News Digest today! 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. I think that speaks rather highly of you. She struggled to find work after being sacked by GCHQ but she has no regrets. Katherine is the eldest of three sisters. We do not accept funding from advertising, underwriting or government agencies. At the end of the day, we are accountable to our conscience. The Man Who Deleted His Past Before He Was Found Dead. Katharine was amongst them. 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 . But its not hard to guess from the, In 2013, Gun spoke with journalist Martin Bright, who published Guns leaked memo and plays a major role in the film, in an interview published by. And on the face of it, it looked like an extraordinary story. AMANPOUR: so you could get a U.N. resolution for the war, correct? Asking for the whole gamut of information from domestic and office communications was for her a demand for blackmail material blackmail to manipulate their vote, to sanction a war. "At the back of my mind, the question remained: 'What are they going to do to me? KATHARINE GUN: When I saw this email asking GCHQs help to bug the six swing nations to gather a vote for war with Iraq, I was very angry at first and very saddened that it had come to this, and that despite all the talk from both Tony Blair and George Bush about how important it was to get the U.N. on board and to legitimize any kind of aggression, that they were actually going around it in such low-handed manner. Join The Spectator community and view or post a comment on this article. Katharine Gun. It stunned Katharine Gun at the time she discovered this duplicity during her work at GCHQ, and it still stuns to see it displayed on the screen, especially actual news reports from the period. Ad Choices, In any walk of life, you can choose to do the right thing, whistle-blower Katharine Gun, whom Knightley plays in the film, told, Jimmy Kimmel Roasts Fragile Snowflake Donald Trump for Allegedly Trying to Censor Him, Scene Stealer: The True Lies of Elisabeth Finch, Part 1, Scene Stealer: The True Lies of Elisabeth Finch, Part 2. But I watched Blair with his smug smile and his sterile speeches that tell us nothing . Katharine Gun has a much better grasp of the true spirit of democracy than Tony Blair. AMY GOODMAN: But what did you see in your email? Whistleblowing on wrongdoing is part of that fightback. 2019 | Maturity Rating: R | 1h 51m | Social Issue Dramas. He was the Observer journalist who was working in Washington on this story, as well, with Martin. The terror of that period took a toll on Gun, who suffered from PTSD for years. MARTIN BRIGHT: We have towe have to protect the innocent in the [inaudible]. Plus a change The warI mean, our obligation is not whether we support or are against the war. KATHARINE GUN: And then I mailed it to a contact, who then passed it on to a journalist, who then passed it on to Martin Bright. The ripple effect from that initial invasion is continually being felt in worldwide institutions, in the U.S. and the U.K. Nobody really has been held responsible for it, and the fact remains that the nation of Iraq is still very much traumatized by what happened. At great personal and professional risk, journalist Martin Bright published the leaked document in The Observer newspaper in London, and the story made headlines around the world. But its just because the copy editor ran it through spell check. Know all ye by these presents that Katharine Gun is hereby awarded The Corner-Brightener Candlestick, presented by Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence. And whereas usually with a whistleblower, you would work very closely with them directly, Katharine didnt come to me. And then, one by one, the American networks pulled out. Is that right, Katharine? Yes, I mean, these were, as Martin has suggested, divisive, divided, bitter, difficult times. They want to interview Martin Bright, because youve got the story of this memo. You didnt know who Katharine Gun was, who had leaked it, but you had the story of the memo that was going to get the goods on these U.N. Security Council members, which would force them to vote for the invasion of Iraq. Woman who tried to stop a war. 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, Senate Holds Equal Rights Amendment Hearing as U.S. Court Denies Attempt to Include in Constitution, Bola Tinubu of Ruling Party Wins Nigeria Election Amid Low Turnout, Rigging Charges, Hundreds of Iranian Schoolgirls Suffered Toxic Poisonings in Last Four Months, Biden Names Labor Advocate Julie Su to Lead Labor Dept. You walk in. "Tony Blair was so obsessed with popularity ratings, I thought that would really affect him.". ANDY DUMFRIES: [played by Jack Farthing] The Americans want us to help them get a U.N. resolution for war. Ross stands at the height of 5 feet 5 inches or 165 cm tall. So, where I had failed with my whistleblower, Mr. Goodman, Martin, with brave and extraordinary Katharine Gun, succeeded. I was like, Mmm. Katharine leaked top-secret information to The Observer about a request by the United States for compromising intelligence on diplomats. is a 501(c)3 non-profit news organization. What was the headline? All rights reserved. Katharine Teresa Gun (ne Harwood; born 1974) is a British whistleblower who worked as a linguist at the Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ; a British intelligence facility) from 2001 to 2003. The AFI Life Achievement recipient discusses her most memorable filmsand what moviegoers actually misremember. As Iraq descended into chaos, Katharine was arrested and charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act. From there, it made its way into the hands of Yvonne Ridley, a well-known anti-war activist. And then, in November, came the call from her lawyer. KATHARINE GUN: Well, its just serendipitous, fortuitous, whatever it is, but his asylum case was coming to an end at the same time that my case began. This is her story. You know, look at me. The film is directed by Gavin Hood, and Gun is portrayed . So, today, at the age of 59, Cary Stayner is incarcerated at the San Quentin State Prison. GUN: Well, simply the e-mail was from the NSA, which is the U.S. equivalent of GCHQ, and it was asking for our assistance, GCHQs assistance, in collecting information from six of the swing U.S. Security Council swing nations. After the meeting, the Brits and the Americans shook hands on the tarmac and walked to their planes. The question remains: Why did they invade Iraq? The plan was to persuade them simply to abstain by piling up enough votes from other countries. KATHARINE GUN: Actually, time-wise, I was bailed for eight months. This is viewer supported news. "My boys," the "Waitress" actress captioned the snap . Our obligation is to the truth. 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. This is a clip. Theyre basically cooking it. ; Democrats Reintroduce, Mississippi Enacts Transgender Healthcare Ban for Youth Amid Spate of Anti-Trans Laws in Red States, Tennessee Gov. Now the public knew. Yasar Gun : All you do is listen to people talking! Instead, helicopters skimmed over the rooftops, so as not to allow any insurgents the chance to fire a rocket propelled grenade. "It got to the stage where I was certain the email I'd leaked wouldn't be needed, that it would never surface.". It seemed inevitable. Record Coal Prices Help Break Strike. So, naturally, it's Katharine Gun who's being punished. How frustrating it was for Gun to sit in her modest home next to her husband, and see fiction portrayed on the evening news. It was directed by Gavin Hood and the cast comprises Matt Smith, Indira Varma, Rhys Ifans, MyAnna Buring, Jack Farthing, Jeremy Northam, Tamsin Grieg and Conleth Hill. That level of pressure, stress and attention took its toll. Whos that? I said, Im ringing about the GCHQ memo that you sent. Click. 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 . And so we had at least that. The next morning, Katharine returned to the office as normal and got on with her work, trying as best as she could to not think about it. 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. I do not gather intelligence so that the government can lie to the British people. Yasur Gunnis is the husband of Katharine Gun, a linguist who specializes in translating Mandarin Chinese into English. On the 25th of February, 2004, Katharine arrived at the Old Bailey for her trial. A few weeks passed and no story appeared. Gun leaked the memo to the press, setting off a chain of events that jeopardized her freedom and safety, but also opened the door to putting the entire legality of the Iraq invasion on trial. TINTIN: So, you work for the British government. MARTIN BRIGHT: Yes. Katharine Gun : I work at GCHQ. And my husband Yasar was still in bed. She was angered by how nonchalant the email was in asking GCHQ to carry out an illegal operation but she didnt know what to do. A translator for UK intelligence agency GCHQ, Gun read a brief from the US National Security Agency urging its British sister organisation to spy on members of the UN Security Council, to gain influence i n a vote on whether to sanction an invasion of Iraq. 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. And yeah, it was just a request from the NSA tofor GCHQ to assist them in bugging the domestic and office communications of the six U.N. Security Council delegates. Otherwise we are living in dictatorships. In April 2020, Katharine was supposed to appear at the 14th edition of the International Journalism Festival as a speaker. KATHARINE GUN: If we do not go public, we would be conceding that no one can ever tell the people when their government is lying. Blogus by Themeansar. In any walk of life, you can choose to do the right thing, she said. This is of no use to me at all. And she turned the piece of paper over, and on the back someone had written the header information. It's just, back then, she didn't realise quite what her employer could be capable of. And so it was decided: on the stand she'd state her innocence and hope for the best. Your viewers will recall them; I hope not, for their sake, but some of them will. People are traumatizedmilitary personnel are coming back extremely traumatized. We're sitting together in a quiet room at the headquarters of human rights organisation Liberty, just around the corner from the streets through which she'd been marching. View this post on Instagram. Katharine Ross's body measurement is 32-38-32 inches, and she wears a shoe size of 7.5 US. Gun's trial took place on February 25, 2004, where the charges against her were dropped after only half an hour due to the prosecution deciding not to present any evidence. Katharine McPhee was initially hesitant about dating David Foster . KATHARINE GUN: Well, I was just appalled. It seemed as if the decision to go to war had already been made, that all the diplomacy then taking place was a charade. '", Things moved slowly from then. I do not gather intelligence so that the government can lie to the British people. When she leaks an NSA memo to the press exposing the American covert manipulation of allies, she will be forced into the spotlight. ED VULLIAMY: Well, oh, indeed, brilliantly played his subject. But, in 2003, when she came across an email suggesting that the United States and the U.K . Now, I asked around. Starring: Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Matthew Goode. I disappeared with my husband down to the coast in Brighton, on the coast of England, and spent some time away from the limelight, Gun said in the interview. After the incident, Katharine struggled to find work, and her husband had grown disillusioned with Britain and then kept away from the general public eye. And what happened? I could tell this email was pretty explosive.". After university and a couple of years teaching in Japan, she was back in Britain and looking for a job. 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. She revealed the dirty tricks on the UN Iraq war vote to the world. It isn't a crime, it's a responsibility.". It wasn't the news Katharine had been preparing for. Amid safety concerns, and anxiety over the fate of a $200 million movie, The Johnny DeppAmber Heard Defamation Trial: The Makings of a Remarkable Moment in American Celebrity. She says this breach was a foolish one-off. Gun, her husband, and their four-year-old daughter shed their coveted privacy long enough to allow Katharine to be one of two former Sam Adams Award winners to present this year's award. KATHARINE GUN: Well, they dropped the charges against me. We had just come from a press conference with the Iraqi information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, better known as Comical Ali. And it was. AMY GOODMAN: And it is explosive. Mary Katherine Higdon of Griffin, Georgia, was arrested for the murder of her live-in boyfriend, Steven Freeman. It wasnt, of course, but hindsight and history may end up judging Guns decisions more kindly than Bushs or Blairs. And they attempt to deport your husband, who is a? That night, Katharine posted the letter to a contact whose identity she continues to withhold. It is vital to speak up in a democracy. Just for a moment, some imagined that this might be enough to stop the Iraq war before it had begun. to your inbox each morning. Katharine Gun in the Liberty office, 2019. AMY GOODMAN: Because Chile was one of the six. We need another Katharine Gun. A new film, Official Secrets, tells the story of her actions and subsequent arrest. More than that, Koza wasnt just asking for information on what these ambassadors and their governments were planning, he seemed to want dirt. These Romantic Movies Are Guaranteed To Make You Cry, The Greatest Romantic Comedies That Youll Watch On Repeat, 26 Movies Every Woman Should See At Least Once. May end up judging Guns decisions more kindly than Bushs or Blairs Waitress & quot ; my boys &... They attempt to deport your husband, who is the husband of Gun. 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Accept funding from advertising, underwriting or government agencies Guns decisions more kindly Bushs... Just for a moment, some imagined that this might be enough to stop the war coming back extremely....
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