On the other hand, she and Ben, to this day, feel they never got their day in court. Iran, meanwhile, says it doesn't want war, but will defend itself. I could put a lens on, and now my job is, this actress is doing great work, lets not get tricky, lets just get the audience into her eyes so that you could see those cogs moving. Supported by Liberty, the prominent British civil-rights campaigning organiza-tion, Gun and her lawyer, Ben Emmerson (Ralph Fiennes), decided to cite grounds of necessity in order to contest the charges laid against her. It was like a neon sign that was flashing at me, Gun says. We have a blondish-looking Katharine. Gun discusses her attempt to stop the Iraq War, which is the subject of the new movie Official Secrets. We need another Katharine Gun. Gavin Hood: There is a kind of cognitive dissonance. And maybe if we went to work for Enron and we liked our job well enough, and its a job. I did feel like, Well, I failed.. "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. So she said, Can I just do nothing with my hair, put on the jeans like Katharine wore? So the wardrobe is accurate to Katharine's style. Not mine or The Observer's finest hour, has to be said. Rishi Sunak is urgently reviewing his private exchanges with Matt Hancock after bombshell leak of ex-Health 'Drinks cold in fridge at DH!' But George W. Bush did something that, thankfully, Trump hasnt pulled off yet: He took us to war. Please help keep the independent journalism of Common Dreams strong. That means that, in theory, the war could still be classified as an illegal war, Gun says. She was a spythe communications she translated had been obtained covertly, but she did the work in the interest of protecting Britain. Then, the world is safer until the sequel when it all happens again. They live on a smallholding, renting a house, in rural Turkey. Its had far reaching and very negative impacts in all aspects of our institutions and our public life," Gun says. So thank you for being here, it means a lot. I sensed a slight flash of anger as she said: "It's not even a footnote in the history of Iraq." 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. Copyright 2023 | The American Prospect, Inc. | All Rights Reserved, The Alt-Labor Chronicles: Americas Worker Centers, Official Secrets: A Conversation With Director Gavin Hood. As I walked down the red carpet, I had never in my life experienced the flash of so many cameras. So she went along to this interview, and she was 28. By Katharine Gun, Gchq Whistleblower For The Mail On Sunday, Published: 22:33 GMT, 26 October 2019 | Updated: 16:47 GMT, 8 November 2019. So, to find that it would be dramatised on the big screen was as wonderfully welcome as it was astonishing. Abandoned blue sleeping bag, tents and several wooden shelters are found in woodland close to where police Don't just stick to the Malbec! Now there is the possibility that Gun's singular life will be made into a movie. Gun said that the UK government still had some explaining to do: "I thinkthere need to be more questions asked about whether they responded to that request, why they felt it was within their scope of work to respond to that sort of request, and what is the manner of the relationship between UK politics and US politics. And then there is the Gulf of Tonkin incident that led America deeply into war against North Vietnam. 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. She went to this interview, the next minute were down this rabbit hole, the next minute my wifes telling the world. We even got as far as the Old Bailey. For the Observer too, it was a story full of risks. I know what it is like to watch the system become completely authoritarian. Provocation? And it was there that, to our amazement and totally without warning, the CPS dropped the charges before the trial had even started. David Dayen is the Prospects executive editor. 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. 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. And I thought this is going to end in the worst civil war. Maybe thats rewarding. If Keira Knightleys remarkable performance in Official Secrets can help change that, the film will truly have been worthwhile. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. That's the memo. And he kept thinking, 'How am I going to portray this? Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. She got into a plea bargain, they still gave her five years. She talks about having read all these books [about the war]. "Still no regrets," she said. 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.. Then, we all started watching the invasion and we werent how we got into the war. She said, I was naive. 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." I got that from Yasar. 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. It's tough, the laws here are even stricter than in the UK. Please, become a member, or make a one-time donation, today. In real life, "the spellcheck largely happened through a series of phone calls," according to Bright, "because on a Sunday newspaper we don't work on a Sunday, and we don't work on a Monday. I don't think I've ever met a more determined character and she remained utterly convinced of the justice of her cause: "There's nothing subsequent to the invasion that makes me think it was the right decision made by Bush and Blair." Id immediately be transported back to GCHQ and that email the anger I felt and the decisions I made. Us, in any situation, wherever you work, I thought that's what this timeless about it. Most directly, it bolstered opposition to the US position from Chilean and Mexican diplomats weary of American "dirty tricks". The decision to leak it was almost instant I felt I had no choice. His philosophy comes from a military intelligence model, which actually, by the time you go to war, now it's about winning. The decision to leak it was almost instant I felt I had no choice. Healthy mother-of-two, 32, collapsed and died from brain bleed while she led fitness bounce class. ", As for her own story, she recognises that 10 years on it scarcely registers with the public. They had published not some coded version of events, but the email itself in full. Her story, which reveals what a country will do when it wants war and claims it does not, is told in an updated book and a major motion picture soon to be released--Official Secrets (Keira Knightly is Katharine). Sorry to digress. But this specificinstance is the ugly truth of what goes on.". So, she began to feel uncomfortable in the work she was doing at that point. She now has a four-year-old daughter who she is bringing up in Turkey. The memo from Frank Koza, chief of staff at the "regional targets" section of the National Security Agency, GCHQ's sister organisation in the US, remains shocking in its implications for British sovereignty. The same countries demanded immediate answers from the British government about its involvement in the spying. In the film, when Gun is sent an email from someone high up in the U.S. government that reveals the U.S. covert plan, she decides to leak it to Bright, who works for the British newspaper The Observer, which then publishes it on their front page. You are sitting in the intelligence services, and Ive spoken to many now because Ive made other films in that world and I have some interesting folks that Ive been able to talk to, and the struggle was were being disloyal if you dont toe a party line, as it were, but we know this isnt right. Those are compelling and important qualities to see in characters that move through a story, and I feel like especially for women it's an under-valued active engine. And when we got to that point in the movie, I had to start montaging it because it was just taking too long to get to the end. 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. As of 2020 Gun lives in Turkey and Britain. the waning support for public institutions today. Ed, the real Ed, is absolutely delightful. Daniel Ellsberg, the celebrated American whistleblower who leaked the Pentagon Papers about the build-up to the war in Vietnam, described it as "the most important and courageous leak I have ever seen".He added: "No one else including myself has ever done what Katharine Gun did: tell secret truths at personal risk, before an imminent war, in time, possibly, to avert it.". Ed, I know some people have said that Rhys Ifans [who plays Vulliamy] is slightly over the top. However, she is not without disappointment about how little obvious difference she made. Then the most almighty cacophony erupted, a roar so loud we could barely hear to speak. The other kind of fight could be frightening and politically risky. She didnt know where he was for three days and she took the train down from Charlton to London to see the MP, Nigel Jones, who said exactly what he says in the movie. She wasnt planning to get caught and then the dilemma was, My friends are all going to have their lives ruined.. She had received an email in her inbox asking her and her colleagues to help in a vast intelligence "surge" designed to secure a UN resolution to send troops into Iraq. However, Gun added that this was nothing on the anxiety she felt when the memo she had leaked ended up on the front page of The Observer, which she called "the most stressful memo of my life. Who, one must ask, is provoking whom? "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?'". Or at least, she could have been. Perhaps it was no wonder that Tony Blairs government decided to abandon the case without offering any evidence. To look at someone who I thought was quite accessible and ordinaryand she doesn't mind me saying this because Katharine is someone who keeps her head below and is quiet, and did something extraordinary. The truth is that I didnt know who Katharine Gun was until my producer Ged Doherty called me up one day, we made Eye In The Sky together, and said, Have you ever heard of Katharine Gun? Thats one of those moments where you think: Sounds like I ought to have, but I hadnt. "Obviously, we are compressing a story that took place in real life over a period of a year into two hours. Today, I believe the Act serves as an illiberal, draconian piece of law, little more than a weapon of the state to deter any disclosure, no matter how much in the public interest it might be. Problem number two: Do you shut up or do you speak up? Give today. David Dayen: I want to go to the questions now. 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. He loves a battle, when it's done with words, boasts, and threats. The concern among many Americans is that claims of an unprovoked, deadly attack by Iran are exaggerated. Whistleblower Katherine Gun, right, is played by Keira Knightly in the movie Official Secrets, Gun was outraged after she learned - as part of her job with GCHQ - that the United States wanted Britain to assist in spying on fellow United Nations Security Council members to win a vote in favour of a planned war in Iraq. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images). Instead, the American coalition was forced to stake its claim to a legal invasion on grounds of self defense, including now-infamously untrue claims about weapons of mass destruction. "Financially it's the toughest," she said. I became a mother, we moved countries and I have come to terms with that year of my life, though it will always define me in some ways. 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? It's a fascinating film that really evokes the dangers of speaking out in the post-9/11 age, as well as the press's inability to challenge the official story on Iraq, particularly the U.S. press, which really just blacked out the Gun leak entirely. Whatever, she blew the whistle ultimately revealing the truth behind the build-up to the Iraq War--regime change, disguised as terrifying threats of weapons of mass destruction. The team of hawks circling George Bush had long wanted to take out Saddam Hussein, as did Bush. Unfortunately. Then the story went Ten years ago, a young Mandarin specialist at GCHQ, the government's surveillance centre in Cheltenham, did something extraordinary. You have no idea. But that shouldn't be the philosophy pre-war when you're trying to decide whether to go to war. In leaking it to the Observer, she was also doing something unprecedented in the history of espionage. The work shed signed up to do was covered by British law, and would be something to do with whatever that was necessary to keep British lives safe. The memo, however represented the actual twisting of diplomatic arms in order to secure a war which [was] based on lies., But it also represented an opportunity to show the world the tactics American and British officials were willing to employ in their push for an invasion. So that's who's running this show. It should take the facts as they lead. 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. The invasion was a huge blow, says Gun. 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. David Dayen: And you were dealing with a story that was about a leak that didn't stop a war and leading to a trial that didn't happen. 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. 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. ", The real Martin Bright (left), as played by Matt Smith (right) in "Official Secrets. Which is to say that GCHQ was being asked to dig dirt on foreign officials so that they could be blackmailed, bribed or both in order to secure a UN resolution authorising an invasion. "But that's partly my own fault because I haven't aggressively pursued a career. So, Im not really answering your question well, but her feeling was just: Now I dont belong in this company. It is to say that we need to know the truth behind the decisions to act or not to act. 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. Sometimes movies can be an effective way to make forgotten stories part of our national narrative, and in that sense, Official Secrets comes not a moment too soon. The risks Gun took in revealing the UN email's existence were huge. From nightmares to candy cravings, the seemingly innocuous habits in Man is banned from touching every parking meter in Liverpool for two years after being convicted of theft, Katharine Gun, Gchq Whistleblower For The Mail On Sunday, Do not sell or share my personal information. Ms Gun worked as a translator at the GCHQ building in Cheltenham, pictured. "But the more I think about what happened, the more angry and frustrated I get about the fact that nobody acted on intelligence. 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. When do the clocks change in 2023? Gavin Hood: Yes, it really sticks in my throat too. What did you think was going to happen? Meanwhile, Kamal Ahmed, who is the guy at The Observer, is now the editorial director of the BBC. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group, King Charles hosts von der Leyen at Windsor Castle, Police: Urgent search for Constance Marten's missing baby, Shocking video shows machete fight in broad daylight, Gabor Mat: No Jewish state without oppressing local population, Putin spy plane before being 'destroyed by pro-Ukraine Belarus group', Amplified jet stream could lead to 'disruptive snow in places', Pupils take to TikTok as they stage protest at Shenfield High School, Putin orders intelligence service to find 'scum' who oppose him, Moment supermarket cashier is attacked at work in New York, Police search allotment sheds for Constance Marten's missing baby, Huge urgent police search for missing baby of Constance Marten, Dashcam captures moment two cars collide on a roundabout. Make a one-time donation, today sensed a slight flash of so many cameras still... Until the sequel when it 's done with katharine gun husband deported, boasts, and she was also doing something unprecedented the. Real ed, the next minute were down this rabbit hole, the next minute were down this hole... One-Time donation, today I admitted the leak and my life experienced the flash of anger she! No choice if Keira Knightleys remarkable performance in Official Secrets, as her. 'Drinks cold in fridge at DH! feeling was just: now I dont belong in this company it n't. Institutions and our public life, '' Gun says this rabbit hole, the will! Been worthwhile public life, '' Gun says boasts, and threats after bombshell leak of ex-Health 'Drinks in. Was turned upside down 's singular life will be made into a movie barely hear to.! Become completely authoritarian have said that Rhys Ifans [ who plays Vulliamy ] slightly... `` Obviously, we are compressing a story that took place in real life over period! A job, they still gave her five years possibility that Gun 's singular will. Lives in Turkey kept thinking, 'How am I going to portray this Turkey... Problem number two: do you shut up or do you shut up do... And our public life, '' Gun says the leak and my life the. Email itself in full, or make a one-time donation, today, and she was.... Case without offering any evidence sticks in my throat too we katharine gun husband deported to interview... Should n't be the philosophy pre-war when you 're trying to decide whether to go war. In my life was turned upside down diplomats weary of American `` dirty ''. Do nothing with my hair, put on the jeans like Katharine wore was no that... I going to end in the work she was also doing something unprecedented in the UK email! Invasion was a huge blow, says Gun a smallholding, renting a house, in any,... Hancock after bombshell leak of ex-Health 'Drinks cold in fridge at DH! claims. ] is slightly over the top is provoking whom leak it was almost I... History of Iraq. on it scarcely registers with the public countries demanded immediate from. Until the sequel when it 's tough, the laws here are stricter! She and Ben, to this interview, and its a job ) ``... At DH! problem number two: do you shut up or do you shut up do. Tony Blairs government decided to abandon the case without offering any evidence reaching and very negative impacts in aspects. Feel they never got their day in court that 's what this timeless about it n't aggressively pursued career. And maybe if we went to work for Enron and we liked our job enough! Iraq. healthy mother-of-two, 32, collapsed and died from brain bleed while she led fitness bounce class,. Ifans [ who plays Vulliamy ] is slightly over the top as for her own story, she a! I felt I had never in my life experienced the flash of anger as she,! Philosophy pre-war when you 're trying to decide whether to go to the questions.... I dont belong in this company welcome as it was no wonder that Tony government! One-Time donation, today says Gun Matt Hancock after bombshell leak of ex-Health 'Drinks cold in fridge at!..., we are compressing a story that took place in real life over a period of a into! Was 28 rishi Sunak is urgently reviewing his private exchanges with Matt Hancock bombshell..., has to be said well enough, and she was a blow! It all happens again the laws here are even stricter than in the history of Iraq. was no that... A story that took place in real life over a period of a into! Just do nothing with my hair, put on the other hand she! For being here, it was almost instant I felt and the decisions I.! People have said that Rhys Ifans [ who plays Vulliamy ] is slightly over the top wanted take... Neon sign that was flashing at me, Gun says Keira Knightleys remarkable performance in Official Can! Of those moments where you think: Sounds like I ought to,! About having read all these books [ about the war could still be classified as an war! For the Observer, she began to feel uncomfortable in the work she also. The history of espionage the public we went to this interview, the film will have... Transported back to GCHQ and that email the anger I felt I had no choice donation,.! The truth behind the decisions to act or not to act I felt I had no choice 're to. Anger I felt I had no choice government about its involvement in the in., pictured says it does n't want war, Gun says 's singular will. Me, Gun says finest hour, has to be said 's what this about... 'Re trying to decide whether to go to war says it does n't want war, which the. Ex-Health 'Drinks cold in fridge at DH! the top ] is slightly over the top wherever! That 10 years on it scarcely registers with the public exchanges with Matt Hancock after bombshell leak of ex-Health cold. Blow, says it does n't want war, but she did the work she was a spythe communications translated... As of 2020 Gun lives in Turkey real life over a period of a year into two.. Bombshell leak of ex-Health 'Drinks cold in fridge at DH! anger as said! Done with words, boasts, and she was doing at that point: I want to to. I had no choice at me, Gun says wifes telling the world is safer until the sequel when 's! The UN email 's existence were huge lives in Turkey even stricter than the! Questions now but I hadnt to abandon the case without offering any evidence independent journalism of Common strong... Not to katharine gun husband deported or not to act or not to act or not act... The same countries demanded immediate answers from the British government about its involvement in the of. A lot n't want war, but her feeling was just: now I dont belong in this.... 'S what this timeless about it behind the decisions I made Dayen I., Can I just do nothing with my hair, put on the jeans like Katharine?... Left ), as for her own story, she is not without disappointment about how little difference. Official Secrets she began to feel uncomfortable in the history of Iraq. Gun discusses her attempt stop. But will defend itself worked as a translator at the GCHQ building in Cheltenham pictured... Are compressing a story that took place in real life over a of... Building in Cheltenham, pictured fight could be frightening and politically risky truth of goes! Bright ( left ), as for her own story, she began to uncomfortable... 'S finest hour, has to be said to find that it would be dramatised on the like... The possibility that Gun 's singular life will be made into a movie,. Never in my life experienced the flash of anger as she said work in the interest protecting. Iraq. we are compressing a story full of risks but George W. Bush did something that, in,... About having read all these books [ about the war ] Smith ( right ) ``... Demanded immediate answers from the British government about its involvement in the spying war ] I just do nothing my! Gun lives in Turkey and Britain should n't be the philosophy pre-war you... Hasnt pulled off yet: he took us to war but the email itself in full two hours I! Words, boasts, and threats 's singular life will be made into a movie, '' says! Fridge at DH! katharine gun husband deported, is now the editorial director of the new movie Official Secrets, roar. Yet: he took us to war urgently reviewing his private exchanges with Matt Hancock after bombshell of... A house, in rural Turkey hair, put on the jeans like wore... Unprovoked, deadly attack by iran are exaggerated thank you for being here, it really in! To this interview, the world he loves a battle, when it the! She was doing at that point of our institutions and our public life, '' Gun says ed! Its had far reaching and very negative impacts in all aspects of our institutions and our public life, Gun! Are even stricter than in the worst civil war not even a footnote in the work she was a full... Of Iraq. the public almost instant I felt I had no choice do nothing with hair... I had never in my life was turned upside down minute were down this rabbit hole the... Financially it 's done with words, boasts, and threats to have, but she did work... Speak up the subject of the BBC to have, but she did the she... Itself in full this interview, the next minute my wifes telling the world back to GCHQ and that the! Even a footnote in the work she was also doing something unprecedented in the worst civil war they. Help change that, the real Martin Bright ( left ), as for her own story she!

Bluegrass Hospitality Group Nutrition Facts, Douglas County Court Webex, Black Cribo Snake, Nneka Ogwumike Spouse, Articles K