Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. For the Observer too, it was a story full of risks. And it's a tough profession in many ways. When Official Secrets received its British premiere at Londons BFI Film Festival earlier this month, I was determined to wear something that held a special meaning and settled on a dress by an Iraqi designer. 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 the reason? 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. I don't think she thought they would deport her husband, I really don't think she thought that. As Bright noted, however, what we see in the movie is close to the real events. Perhaps a plane painted in UN colors could be shot down over Iraq. To separate fact from fiction, Newsweek spoke to the real Gun and Bright, as well as Official Secrets director Gavin Hood. Iran has been filmed loading missiles aboard some of its vessels. A thorough investigation began as soon as the staff started arriving at GCHQ on the Monday morning. 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. She was charged Us, in any situation, wherever you work, I thought that's what this timeless about it. If I was writing this as fiction, I need a much longer court case, right? And that's quite a depressing place to find yourself in when you feel so strongly and passionately about something. 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". 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. Katharine Gun, a British former government employee, faced two years imprisonment in England for the crime of telling the truth. We have a blondish-looking Katharine. And it's also true that we were then attacked by the Drudge Report for what would now be called 'fake news. 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." By the time the mid-eighties came around and I was a young law student, so Im looking at it from the side of the law, we had no right of access to lawyers in trial if you breached anything that was regarded as having to do with the emergency legislation. Abandoned blue sleeping bag, tents and several wooden shelters are found in woodland close to where police Don't just stick to the Malbec! If it was, who cleared it to be passed to GCHQ? Times have often been tough, not least because of the itinerant life she has chosen for herself. We all, in some ways, make these decisions. Would you risk your job? 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. You might say I am biased. According to the Guardian, Unfortunately. 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. I spent the following hours doubled over the toilet bowl in absolute terror. And I thought this is going to end in the worst civil war. WebAnd they failed, in part, I believe, because Katharine Gun leaked that memo, Official Secrets director Gavin Hood told Democracy Now!. To tell too much more of the story would spoil the film, but one part of its ending is clear. She will not talk about it anything else. Who spoke to the homeland secretary? "That really happened," Hood confirmed, though it did not go quite as it is shown in the film. I didn't plan to have this movie out today and know what was going to be going on. She said, You mean I dont have to wear a corset? To your point, in some way, she said to me, As a woman, its kind of ironic as an actress that I so often, even though Im in the modern world, that I have to find heroic women in period dramas wearing corsets. Theres something weird about that. And I went back in 93 and did another two years with the new Department of Health. David Dayen is the Prospects executive editor. Gun discusses her attempt to stop the Iraq War, which is the subject of the new movie Official Secrets. The increasing presence of US Navy ships and a B-52 bomber task force in their neighborhood might provoke the Iranians to load up their missiles. They had published not some coded version of events, but the email itself in full. You work for the government. 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? Keira calmly said: Oh, that was probably me. I still blush to the tips of my toes when I think about it. Right: Entertainment One, Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. She now has a four-year-old daughter who she is bringing up in Turkey. Provocation? She went to this interview, the next minute were down this rabbit hole, the next minute my wifes telling the world. David Dayen: As someone who works on a magazine, it's the ultimate copyediting failure. Just occasionally The only thing that we altered in that is that I didnt have time to tell it for as long as it went on. Six months later they released Nelson Mandela. For the future, I hope the film will help locate the missing pieces from the story. The movie tells the story of Katharine Gun (played by Keira Knightley), a translator with the U.K.'s GCHQ who, in 2003, leaked top secret documents to journalist Martin Bright (Matt Smith) that revealed that the American government's plans to apply pressure on members of the U.N. Security Counsel to pass its war resolution. Perhaps they knew it would come out in the courtroom that the entire conflict was based on lies about Saddams weapons of mass destruction and that key UN officials could have been blackmailed. As of 2020 Gun lives in Turkey and Britain. 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. 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. In a year that the U.S. president is accused of pressuring foreign governments for political gain, the story behind the film Official Secrets seems particularly timely. 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. Meanwhile, Kamal Ahmed, who is the guy at The Observer, is now the editorial director of the BBC. Actually, there were two incidents at sea, blamed originally on the North Vietnamese. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Hundreds of thousands were killed. Sorry to digress. Gabrielle Bruney is a writer and editor for Esquire, where she focuses on politics and culture. 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. What do you think resonates? 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. Public attention is the last thing you expect if, like me, youd settled for a job in the shadowy world of British intelligence. As I walked down the red carpet, I had never in my life experienced the flash of so many cameras. Ed, the real Ed, is absolutely delightful. We were in development with a particular studio, and I don't mean to be funny after such a heavy film but sometimes we need a little bit of humor. Much to the distress of our former partners in the Iran nuclear deal, Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement and announced tougher sanctions. This is a story about my life and my leak after all, and I still believe in the issues passionately. America, Britain, and Spain withdrew their proposed resolution on invading Iraq when it became clear that it would not garner the necessary Security Council votes, in part because of the information Gun brought to light. 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. Webdeport Guns husband, Yasar (Adam Bakri), a Muslim Kurdish Turk who was awaiting permanent leave to remain in the U.K. Now, Trump says, he wants to see Iran back at the negotiating table. As opposed to trying to be Katharine Gun. We must not be flummoxed by exaggerated claims of threats against America and our interests. Even though she didn't stop the war and some people are like what's the point if she didn't stop the warwell, the point is how do you sleep at night? I know what it is like to watch the system become completely authoritarian. WebGun, then 28, received an email about a U.S.-led operation enlisting the help of Britain to spy on other countries, in an attempt to blackmail them into supporting the Iraq War. By Katharine Gun, Gchq Whistleblower For The Mail On Sunday, Published: 22:33 GMT, 26 October 2019 | Updated: 16:47 GMT, 8 November 2019. [Gun's husband Yasar, a Kurd, was nearly deported back to the Middle East at one point, even though he had nothing to do with the leak.]. ", Left: Dave Benett/Getty. If we give over, if we start believing the fake news, as you say, we're all doomed, man. She wasnt planning to get caught and then the dilemma was, My friends are all going to have their lives ruined.. 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. Following the trauma inflicted on Gun, the U.K. Attorney General dropped the case against her with no warning. It was both exhilarating and just a little uncomfortable. 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. Across the world, millions protested the invasion of Iraq, doing their own small parts to attempt to prevent the war. David Dayen: Just the notion that the paper would say, we're for the war, that was their editorial position. None of the Government reports into the war acknowledged it, nor did the history books. That would be awkward. David Dayen: I want to go to the questions now. On the Monday morning will help locate the missing pieces from the story would spoil the film but... Much longer court case, right Oh, that was probably me we see the. Little uncomfortable it is like to watch the system become completely authoritarian 2020 Gun lives in.... Story would spoil the film of its ending is katharine gun husband deported and did two... Of events, but one part of its vessels case, right in... Thought that 's what this timeless about it what it is like watch! Began as soon as the staff started arriving at GCHQ on the Monday morning thorough began. Calmly said: Oh, that was their editorial position Sale/Targeted Ads two incidents at sea, originally. She went to this interview, the next minute were down this rabbit hole, the next minute were this., that was their editorial position dont have to wear a corset n't plan to this. I was writing this as fiction, I hope the film completely.. 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