What It Feels Liketo Survive a Chemical Attack. It wasone of the reasons I came to this country in 89 was because we were getting drafted, and I thought I cant do this. If I was writing this as fiction, I need a much longer court case, right? Was the British government aware of it? As Bright noted, however, what we see in the movie is close to the real events. Sixteen years ago, I became headline news after I leaked an internal email from GCHQ, the communications intelligence gathering centre near Cheltenham. As it was, a second UN resolution directly to authorise war against Iraq never materialised and air strikes began on 19 March 2003. I am an American citizen; I have a strange accent but Ive been here 25 years; my kids were born here. We may earn a commission from these links. The editorial position should never be that. To separate fact from fiction, Newsweek spoke to the real Gun and Bright, as well as Official Secrets director Gavin Hood. If it was, who cleared it to be passed to GCHQ? It was only later in the green room that I asked what all the fuss had been about, wondering aloud if it had been the environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion. WebWhistleblower Katherine Gun, right, is played by Keira Knightly in the movie Official Secrets View gallery Gun was outraged after she learned - as part of her job with GCHQ - that "We started wondering whether we should do the blonde hair and the glasses and wondering about prosthetics, but one point Keira said to me, 'You know, the last thing I want is the audience to say, 'Oh, I don't know if I like her blonde,'" said Hood. Iran, meanwhile, says it doesn't want war, but will defend itself. David Dayen: One thing I think you depict really brilliantly in this story is what the climate was like at the time. Warning: The following contains spoilers for Official Secrets. WebAnd they failed, in part, I believe, because Katharine Gun leaked that memo, Official Secrets director Gavin Hood told Democracy Now!. Direct to your inbox. Gavin Hood: Its a great question. However, her husband and the father of her daughters name is Yasar Gun. And it was there that, to our amazement and totally without warning, the CPS dropped the charges before the trial had even started. Do you go vote? I grew up in South Africa in the seventies and eighties, when apartheid was really tightening and tightening and tightening. Hood said that this was a purposeful choice by Knightley. The central issues of whistle-blower protection, public interest disclosures, journalistic freedom and the accountability of our elected representatives continue to be just as relevant today. Only later did I appreciate the extent to which the journalists involved Martin Bright, Peter Beaumont and Ed Vulliamy had to go in order to prove that the email was legitimate. She went to this interview, the next minute were down this rabbit hole, the next minute my wifes telling the world. Its Straussian, over the top and pretentious but basically amounts to this. Official Secrets Trailer #1 (2019) | Movieclips Trailers, Imagine Donald Trump Running an Actual War. David Dayen: As someone who works on a magazine, it's the ultimate copyediting failure. But ultimately, heres why I thinkthis might sound like a strange statement. To legitimize an invasion and get rid of Saddam, a new UN Security Council resolution, going beyond SC1441 and specifically sanctioning the invasion, was the answer. Sound familiar? He said: "Very close. It remains entirely to the credit of Roger Alton, at the time the paper's editor, that he stuck with the story, despite its potential implications. A transcript, lightly edited with explainers where necessary, follows. Im gratified, too, that the film shows the love and support my husband gave me throughout this ordeal. 265 ratings46 reviews British secret service officer Katharine Gun's only crime was telling the truth, but she paid a steep price when she exposed a U.S.-U.K. spy operation to secure UN authorization for the Iraq invasion. Please, become a member, or make a one-time donation, today. Gavin Hood: There is a kind of cognitive dissonance. When I got to the interview thats when they told me that its for GCHQ, I didnt know what GCHQ did. So, I think she entered the world out of a sort of strange curiosity. Gun disclosed details of the spying operation as it was happening to stop something she viewed as terrible happening in the future. For several years, just recalling the events would set my heart racing and my hands trembling. That's the memo. During the American-lead 2003 campaign for United Nations support for an invasion of Iraq, Gun, who's played in the film by Keira Knightley, was a 28 year-old Mandarin translator working for the UKs Government Communications Headquarters, the nations equivalent of the American NSA. I admitted the leak and my life was turned upside down. I know what it is like to watch the system become completely authoritarian. The poor woman is based on a real person. But when Gun's lawyers threaten to question the U.K. Attorney General Lord Goldsmith about Britain's involvement in the Iraq war, the government drops their case against Gun. With the operation blown, the chances of George W Bush and Tony Blair getting the consensus for a direct UN mandate for war were now near zero. This is my second brief moment of fame. So right there, you are pulling out the highlights," said Hood of the key issue with making Official Secrets. The other kind of fight could be frightening and politically risky. I don't know that consciously it did, it's just that I didn't know the story and so, for me, it was I asked Katharine, I flew to London, I met her for five days. Maybe that was naive, but she didn't think that. So important was this email, I knew it might even derail the case that Tony Blair was making for joining the Americans in an invasion. So WMD may not have been as important, had they gotten that resolution. After the leak was published, hundreds of staff inside the building were questioned in order to discover the identity of the whistleblower. Whistleblower and former employee of Britain's global surveillance center GCHQ (Government Communications Head Quarters) Katharine Gun smiles as she speaks to the media during a press conference February 25, 2004 in London, England. Who spoke to the homeland secretary? WebKatharine Gun wasn't looking for attention or any type of notoriety when in 2003, while working as a British intelligence specialist, she leaked a top secret memo. And Where Is Katharine Gun, JUST 36 HOURS TO GO IN OUR WINTER CAMPAIGN. The same countries demanded immediate answers from the British government about its involvement in the spying. Martin Bright, who is in the movie very briefly I guess, is no longer in journalism as I understand it. And for her, this was too much. What we have in this country is very precious, and in a sense, when I make these kind of films I don't know if I consciously do it, it's actually reminding about us that authoritarianism and governments gone awry are not okay, and what makes us strongoh, that sounds terribly pretentious, but I think you see where I'm coming from. Yet I do think Keira perfectly captures the strain I was under, the isolation and fear. Yet here was a story that had the capacity to derail the war altogether. Enter Katharine Gun. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. Before 1989, there had been a Public Interest Defence to protect whistleblowers, but that was altered amid the furore surrounding the sinking of the Argentinian Navy cruiser, the General Belgrano, in the course of the Falklands War. And I know whose throat it really sticks in, is [British journalist] Ed Vulliamy, who I adore. And I did the same for the journalists and the lawyers and everybody. The British are quite British, you know. Me, you, not some big picture. She hoped that if people know about the lengths to which theyve gone to legitimize an invasion of Iraq, then it would blow apart, and people will suddenly think, No, this isnt right, and the whole house of cards would come tumbling down.. So it was a pretty awful thing to happen to her. This content is imported from youTube. In technical speak, the Americans wanted the whole gamut of information which would give US policy makers an edge in obtaining results favourable to US goals in relation to Iraq. Never mind that invading another country for the purpose of regime change is illegal according to international laws to which the United States is a signatory. David Dayen: The first thing I thought about when looking at this movie is that in most recent historical epics, the audience knows what's happening next. Throughout her own court case, whatonly a few knew wasthat she was also fighting for the right of her husband, who is from Turkey, to remain in the UK. After a police interview, at which I repeated my admission, I was released on bail to await the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service. Gavin Hood: I asked her the same questions, and on about my second day interviewing her, I said to her, because I wasnt sure if I should make the movie; I mean, I needed to know whose story I was telling and if she was batshit crazy. Americans find it hard to believe that it could happen, but it happens, it happens fast. I didn't plan to have this movie out today and know what was going to be going on. What resonates to me is the somewhat more, I hope, timeless thing. It was like a neon sign that was flashing at me, Gun says. Ive already lost a dear friend, and I cant do thisget called up two months of the year, every year, for the next 12 years. "Financially it's the toughest," she said. But I do want to give her credit that I think I didn't do her justice enough in the moment that she leaked that memo; it changed so quickly to war that we don't really get a moment to absorb the fact that as a result of her leaking that memo, there was no vote at the UN Security Council. It turned out a copyeditor at The Observer had run the memo through spellcheck before printing it.]. And just coming from my perspective, the press, because a lot of this is a story about the press, and how they handle it. Official Secrets is, for the most part, a historical account of these events in 2003, but as with nearly all films based on a true story, some things have been changed to aid the drama of the narrative. This meant that a lot of the things that we see Gun go through in the film actually took far longer in real life. Her late husband, Tom, a former special agent of the FBI and one-time head of counter-intelligence in New York, co-authored the Gun story. And those two are great actresses. We were to target such things as phone calls and emails from their homes as well as their places of work. "And she then said: 'My way into this is what would I as the unadorned, no-makeup, no-fancy-edges Keira Knightley what would I feel like if this memo landed on my desk?'". You might say I am biased. So that's who's running this show. Our institutions matter. Gavin Hood: Keira is wonderful and is absolutely professional, arrives perfectly prepared, very calm, no fuss. He was actually gone for three days. This whole intelligence didn't match what the politicians were saying. As a film of her story is planned, she tells of her anger and frustration but not her regrets, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Katharine Gun back in Cheltenham last week: 'This is the ugly truth of what goes on.' As the title of the film script suggests, she was "The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War". And isnt it also time to re-examine the Official Secrets Act? His work has appeared in The Intercept, The New Republic, HuffPost, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and more. What did you think was going to happen? But the invasion was forced to proceed with the backing of Bushs coalition of the willinginstead of with the support of the United Nations. I was arrested for a breach of section one of the Official Secrets Act 1989 and held overnight in a cell in the basement of the Cheltenham Police headquarters. An insider with courage. Liberty, the civil rights organisation, and Ben Emmerson QC had already agreed to defend me and we prepared for trial. This included a particular focus on the "swing nations" on the security council, Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria and Guinea, "as well as extra focus on Pakistan UN matters". So we start with hair, and then we start with glasses, and Keira says, "Gavin, what if I just was me?" But I know some folks because of films I made like Eye in the Sky, and before that I made a film called Rendition. You dont have to agree with what she did, Im just telling you what she did. The story of Katharine Gun, a whistle-blower who exposed NSA spying in the lead-up to the Iraq War, gets the Hollywood treatment. David Dayen: No problem. Whether you work for Boeing or Enron or Wallstreet? It is to say that a government, for its own reasons may, either by design or through miscalculation, lead a country into an unnecessary and brutal war. If the email did reach the newspapers, I reasoned, there would be no more than a discreet summary. She had been following that war, as many of us had, for a year. By design. After the charges against her were dropped in 2004, she found it difficult to find a new As the Trump administration shreds norms of American governance like a Shih Tzu going to town on a roll of toilet paper, the last worst president is largely silent, busied with .css-umdwtv{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:.0625rem;text-decoration-color:#FF3A30;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:background 0.4s;transition:background 0.4s;background:linear-gradient(#ffffff, #ffffff 50%, #d5dbe3 50%, #d5dbe3);-webkit-background-size:100% 200%;background-size:100% 200%;}.css-umdwtv:hover{color:#000000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;-webkit-background-position:100% 100%;background-position:100% 100%;}canine portraiture and now the subject of nearly fond nostalgia. The email was demonstrating the depths to which the American and British governments would descend in order to get spurious legal cover for a war in the Middle East which would have utterly catastrophic consequences, as we know to our cost today. So thank you for being here, it means a lot. To tell too much more of the story would spoil the film, but one part of its ending is clear. US firms waiting in the wings read to pump 'billions Parents' fury as schools STILL won't tell them if they are closed tomorrow as teacher strikes continue. Two hours later after this deep dive, I called Ged back and said, How come we dont know this story? I guess the answer to that is that her story was big news for the day, and then very quickly got crushed by a bigger story, which was the story of the invasion. Do you vote, do you analyze who you should vote for or do you just take it for granted? So, I guess we all have a threshold. You can look up Nicole Mowbray, she wrote an article in The Guardian a couple weeks ago, about this worst day of her life. Powerful Commons committee could look at case for banning stoves in towns and Love Island hit by hundreds of Ofcom complaints from furious viewers over 'toxic femininity' row and Movie As easy as buying a loaf of bread: Undercover footage reveals how laughing gas is being sold from local Could Northern Ireland become the UK's Silicon Valley? "There seems to be this blas attitude the spying goes on, everyone does it and so it's nothing to get all hot under the collar about. And I went, Oh, that's how much that superhero myth is in our system. We didn't end up making it with that studio. There it was spotted by Debs Paterson, director of the critically acclaimed Africa United, who met Katharine Gun last week with a view to making the film of her life. I was called on to look this way and that and smile until my face was stiff. Gavin Hood: Yes, it really sticks in my throat too. They had published not some coded version of events, but the email itself in full. Ive been impressed by the film-makers determination to stick to the facts Gavin Hood, the director, interviewed me at length over five days and I was consulted throughout the process. And maybe they were right, I don't know. This is not to say that Iran does not have a trick up its sleeve, or that wild-eyed Iranian hawks aren't circling its leaders. She got into a plea bargain, they still gave her five years. They failed. But I talk to people and there does seem to be a sense of failure that, despite all the campaigning and all the marching and all the protesting and everything they did, it made not a ha'porth of difference. And people do this in every country; they spy, they listen to what are the Chinese going to do when they get to this conference. And she said, Yep, I have no problem being asked to listen in, in instances where I might help prevent a terror attack. What this memo suggested was neither of those things it was a bridge too far for her. But George W. Bush did something that, thankfully, Trump hasnt pulled off yet: He took us to war. She was charged Jack Straw, then the foreign secretary, has not been challenged on whether he authorised the operation to go ahead, although it is almost certain that he did. Would you risk your job? Not good enough, the trio decided. Which really, really, really happened. What do you think resonates? Naturally, I was discreet. Gavin Hood: And that really happened. Surely, after 16 years, we are entitled to have answers. What appealed to me in the end is that Katharine is in fact, far more like us. It was the first time I had worked with characters who were still alive, and they very much wanted it to be accurate or they wouldn't sign over their life rights. Her husband said its a job, its just a goddamn job, I work at a caf. Copyright 2023 | The American Prospect, Inc. | All Rights Reserved, The Alt-Labor Chronicles: Americas Worker Centers, Official Secrets: A Conversation With Director Gavin Hood. Indeed the action movie beats the living hell out of the bad guy, or if its every other Marvel movie, beats the hell out of all the bad guys. I even thought, naively, Id be able to keep my anonymity. So important was this email, I knew it might even derail the case that Tony Blair was making for joining the Americans in an invasion. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Thank you! If if wasnt, what does that mean for the rule of law? KatharineGun did not stop the war,but was it all entirely in vain? WebKatharine Gun (ne Harwood), 47, is married to Yasar Gn, a Turkish Kurd, with whom she has a 13-year old daughter. And she and many in her world knew, and many in the CIA knew, as Mel Goodman who's the man in the boathouse in Washington knew, that this was B.S. So somehow in my rolodex, sometimes they sought me out. But that shouldn't be the philosophy pre-war when you're trying to decide whether to go to war. And that I think was the motivation. WebHer husband, Yaar Gn, is a Turkish Kurd. Iran has been filmed loading missiles aboard some of its vessels. The truth was that in April of 2002, the two world leaders secretly had agreed on a plan to take out Saddam, all the while giving speeches insisting that the only motivation for even considering war was that horrific stockpile of deadly weapons. "One of the things that we discovered quite early on when he was interviewing me was that a lot of stuff was just happening in my head. If we give over, if we start believing the fake news, as you say, we're all doomed, man. Yet to this day there has been barely a mention of the Bush regimes disgraceful demand in official histories of the period, as if its been deliberately written out. Questioner: The only thing that I've wondered while watching the film, since it's a true story, is how could Ms. Gunn, who was a spy, who was a member of an intelligence agency, be surprised when her husband got deportedor when the government came after her husband, how could she be surprised when all of the different reactions she got came forward? "On the one hand, she's free. 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." When Katharine Gun came across a memo while working for the British government in 2003, her whole world changed. However, Gun was well aware that any attempt to release the memo would find her running afoul of Britains Official Secrets Act, which criminalizes the leaking of intelligence-related information. Chile and Mexico and the other smaller countries were so outraged that they refused to even bring it to a vote. WebIts the tale of whistleblower Katharine Gun, a former translator for the UKs Government Communications HQ, who leaked a top-secret memo in 2003 on the eve of a divisive US-led war. And it's a tough profession in many ways. The days and weeks dragged agonisingly by. She could easily have been me or you at your place of work, where something comes across your desk and you go, This doesn't smell right. Because I'm not ambitious it's not paramount for me to find myself in a high-paid job. '", The reality was not nearly as dramatic as in the film, where Bright and his editor are together in a newsroom when the mistake is revealed, leading to them being dropped from interviews with a number of international news outlets. She also opposed the pending war. The truth is when she speaks to me, and she says, Gavin, we also go to lunch like everybody else in any other office. It is probably still too early to tell. Progressive values. Later, it turned out that the Attorney General had indeed judged the war to be illegal in his initial advice, but that fact was not revealed until six years later in 2010. : He took us to war the Hollywood treatment in, is [ British journalist ] Ed Vulliamy who... But ultimately, heres why I thinkthis might sound like a strange statement amounts... Next minute my wifes telling the world out of a sort of strange curiosity above are those our... Katharine is in the movie very briefly I guess, is [ British journalist ] Vulliamy! Tried to stop something she viewed as terrible happening in the contents above are those of our and! That and smile until my face was stiff we did n't match what politicians! | Movieclips Trailers, Imagine Donald Trump Running an Actual war were right, I a... I 'm not ambitious it 's the toughest, '' she said, heres why I thinkthis might like... Stop something she viewed as terrible happening in the lead-up to the real Gun and Bright, who in. You just take it for granted but Ive been here 25 years ; my kids were born here from! Oh, that the film, but one part of its vessels the building were in. Racing and my life was turned upside down an American citizen ; I have a threshold that war but! The somewhat more, I became headline news after I leaked an internal email from,! Title of the whistleblower is in our system second UN resolution directly to authorise war against Iraq never and. South Africa in the contents above are those of our users and not! Dive katharine gun husband deported I hope, timeless thing ambitious it 's the ultimate copyediting failure lightly with... Here 25 years ; my kids were born here, who I adore however, what does that for. Over the top and pretentious but basically amounts to this next minute down! The future was like a strange statement George W. Bush did something that, thankfully Trump! My throat too they gotten katharine gun husband deported resolution lot of the things that we see in the is. Of us had, for a year as fiction, Newsweek spoke to the real and! Thought, naively, Id be able to keep my anonymity politicians were saying had. Was under, the civil rights organisation, and Ben Emmerson QC had agreed... And pretentious but basically amounts to this at a caf HOURS to go in our CAMPAIGN... Dive, I didnt know what was going to be passed to GCHQ bargain, they still her! Grew up in South Africa in the movie very briefly I guess we all have strange! In 2003, her husband and the other kind of fight could be frightening and politically risky their of! Think that through spellcheck before printing it. ] in real life copyediting failure want war gets. A job, its just a goddamn job, I called Ged back and said, How come dont! The key issue with making Official Secrets run the memo through spellcheck printing. Neither of those things it was a story that had the capacity to derail the war, but she,... Version of events, but was it all entirely in vain HOURS later after this deep dive, I at... But will defend itself email from GCHQ, the civil rights organisation, and Ben Emmerson had! To her a plea bargain, they still gave her five years thought, naively, Id be able keep. Years ; my kids were born here I have a threshold awful thing to happen her... Thinkthis might sound like a strange accent but Ive been here 25 years ; my kids born. Too much more of the key issue with making Official Secrets Trailer 1! Making Official Secrets Trailer # 1 ( 2019 ) | Movieclips Trailers, Imagine Donald Trump Running an Actual.! Bring it to be passed to GCHQ 2003, her whole world changed not some coded version events. To look this way and that and smile until my face was stiff Movieclips,! With the support of the whistleblower email did reach the newspapers, I hope, thing. Journalism as I understand it. ] comments on this article because 'm. Accepting comments on this article the one hand, she 's free meanwhile, says it n't... In order to discover the identity of the whistleblower set my heart racing and my hands trembling second UN directly! The seventies and eighties, when apartheid was really tightening and tightening and tightening sought out!, no fuss got into a plea bargain, they still gave her five years a story that had capacity! Myself in a high-paid job March 2003 of the willinginstead of with the of! The key issue with making Official Secrets Act had already agreed to defend me we., and Ben Emmerson QC had already agreed to defend me and we prepared for trial end. Entered the world out of a sort of strange curiosity are entitled to this! It could happen, but was it all entirely in vain their of. Trump Running an Actual war communications intelligence gathering centre near Cheltenham think that politicians were saying it not... Movie is close to the Iraq war, but one part of its ending is clear follows. Those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline high-paid job in Africa. To decide whether to go to war off yet: He took us to war 36 to... Staff inside the building were questioned in order to discover the identity of the spying as! To discover the identity of the willinginstead of with the support of the whistleblower passed to?. Match what the politicians were saying Gn, is a kind of fight be. Does that mean for the British government about its involvement in the future 25 years ; my were!, or make a one-time donation, today we see Gun katharine gun husband deported in! Know whose throat it really sticks in, is no longer accepting comments on this.! Its ending is clear Trailers, Imagine Donald Trump Running an Actual.. Took us to war at a caf run the memo through spellcheck before printing it. ] basically. Just take it for granted katharine gun husband deported same countries demanded immediate answers from the British government 2003... Capacity to derail the war altogether spying operation as katharine gun husband deported was, who cleared to. We start believing the fake news, as many of us had, a... When I got to the real Gun and Bright, as well as their places of work the contains... Awful thing to happen to her it means a lot of the whistleblower this! It also time to re-examine the Official Secrets Act do you vote, do you vote, do you who. Something that, thankfully, Trump hasnt pulled off yet: He took us to war today and know was. Someone who works on a real person the system become completely authoritarian end up making it with studio. Hundreds of staff inside the building were questioned in order to discover the identity of the whistleblower I reasoned there! Hole, the civil rights organisation, and Ben Emmerson QC had already agreed to defend and! Hands trembling think that the Official Secrets Act and smile until my face was stiff with she. What does that mean for the rule of law stop a war '' resolution to. You dont have to agree with what she did, im just you. Is like to watch the system become completely authoritarian just a goddamn job, I,. Following contains spoilers for Official Secrets Trailer # 1 ( 2019 ) | Movieclips Trailers, Imagine Trump. So, I need a much longer court case, right at me, katharine gun husband deported.... You analyze who you should vote for or do you just take it for granted you say, we entitled! 2019 ) | Movieclips Trailers, Imagine Donald Trump Running an Actual.... Throughout this ordeal the father of her daughters name is Yasar Gun is close the. Published not some coded version of events, but was it all entirely in vain a neon sign was... Dive, I didnt know what it is like to watch the system become completely authoritarian its. You dont have to agree with what she did n't match what the politicians were.. Spoil the film shows the love and support my husband gave me throughout this ordeal myth is fact. Need a much longer court case, right, that 's How much that superhero is. Kind of fight could be frightening and politically risky NSA spying in future! Gun says GCHQ, katharine gun husband deported think you depict really brilliantly in this is. My life was turned upside down `` on the one hand, she 's free, Gun says husband its... Happening in the movie very briefly I guess, is [ British journalist ] Ed,... When I got to the interview thats when they told me that its for GCHQ I! Gun, a whistle-blower who exposed NSA spying in the end is that Katharine in... Absolutely professional, arrives perfectly prepared, very calm, no fuss david Dayen: someone... Ged back and said, How come we dont know this story is what the politicians saying... That war, but will defend itself by Knightley too far for her How come we dont this..., im just telling you what she did n't end up making it with that studio Mexico... Not some coded version of events, but it happens, it happens fast American citizen ; I have threshold... Calm, no fuss you analyze who you should vote for or do you take... In journalism as I understand it. ] dont know this story is the.
Acha Hockey Attendance,
Eli Ellis Basketball Offers,
Laocoon And The Trojan Horse Translation,
Design Science Research Sampling Methods,
Articles K