What resonates to me is the somewhat more, I hope, timeless thing. Truth about Covid care home testing row: Timeline lays bare what was said, by who and when. The true story of a British whistleblower who leaked information to the press about an illegal NSA spy operation designed to push the UN Security Council into sanctioning the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Who spoke to the homeland secretary? I had, of course, signed the Official Secrets Act, content in the knowledge I was working within the law for Britains protection. ", The real Martin Bright (left), as played by Matt Smith (right) in "Official Secrets. These superheroes, and I don't just mean superheroes in the movie sense, but larger-than-life big political figures, or Edward Snowden is almost mythical in his brilliance whether you like what he did or not, he is sort of not me. Now the goal is not truth, it is victory. Actually, there were two incidents at sea, blamed originally on the North Vietnamese. Ten years ago, a young Mandarin specialist at GCHQ, the government's surveillance centre in Cheltenham, did something extraordinary. In the matter of a few years. 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. The comments below have been moderated in advance. But my point is simply this: The underpinnings of this country matter. When my turn came, I entered a small side office, faced the security official and, putting on my best poker face, denied any involvement. The story of Katharine Gun, a whistle-blower who exposed NSA spying in the lead-up to the Iraq War, gets the Hollywood treatment. 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. 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. 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. Provocation? For several years, just recalling the events would set my heart racing and my hands trembling. WebGun sacrificed so much when she decided to leak and has worked only intermittently since. 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. She was a spythe communications she translated had been obtained covertly, but she did the work in the interest of protecting Britain. This is my second brief moment of fame. Chile and Mexico and the other smaller countries were so outraged that they refused to even bring it to a vote. ", As for her own story, she recognises that 10 years on it scarcely registers with the public. Not mine or The Observer's finest hour, has to be said. At some point, as you probably know, Bush and Rumsfeld decided to bypass the CIA and take out that Office of Special Plans. ", Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters, Keira Knightley's Birthday: Her 15 Best Movies Ranked, 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, Keira Knightley as Katharine Gun in "Official Secrets. It almost started with, well, would I have the courage to do what she did in another setting maybe? In leaking it to the Observer, she was also doing something unprecedented in the history of espionage. 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. So there is sometimes a thought in my head that says: What if Katharine hadn't leaked that memo? 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. She failed. The invasion was a huge blow, says Gun. But Katharine only ever leaked this one memo. 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? And isnt it also time to re-examine the Official Secrets Act? Rishi Sunak is urgently reviewing his private exchanges with Matt Hancock after bombshell leak of ex-Health 'Drinks cold in fridge at DH!' This whole intelligence didn't match what the politicians were saying. ", Left: Dave Benett/Getty. 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. I dont know if theyd have discovered me eventually, but the fact is I couldnt live a lie for ever. 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. Do you go vote? 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. Sixteen years ago, I became headline news after I leaked an internal email from GCHQ, the communications intelligence gathering centre near Cheltenham. 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. You can look up Nicole Mowbray, she wrote an article in The Guardian a couple weeks ago, about this worst day of her life. 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. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images). WebKeira Knightley stars in this true story about Katharine Gun, a British intelligence officer who exposed the US government's efforts to force the UN Security Council to sanction the And it was this book which eventually became the script for Official Secrets. 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. You have the UN resolution, we're all doing this together to stop the genocide or something, or it's self-defense, we're going to be attacked, it's so clear we're going to be attacked that we have to take pre-emptive action. Cheering crowds have never been my sort of thing. 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. Hundreds of thousands were killed. Director Gavin Hood Writers Sara Bernstein Gregory Bernstein Gavin Hood Stars Keira Knightley Matt Smith Matthew Goode "Because I think people see thatthe leaders of both the US and the UK conceivably could be considered war criminals, and yet they are walking free.". Only now, more than a decade and a half later, is this disturbing sequence of events once again receiving the attention it deserves thanks to Official Secrets, a brilliant new movie starring Keira and former Doctor Who, Matt Smith. 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. Times have often been tough, not least because of the itinerant life she has chosen for herself. None of the Government reports into the war acknowledged it, nor did the history books. WebKatharine Gun (ne Harwood), 47, is married to Yasar Gn, a Turkish Kurd, with whom she has a 13-year old daughter. This, despite credible evidence that Iran was in full compliance with terms of the agreement. British Secret Service Officer Katharine, then a young bride, risked everything to leak details of the Bush-Blair plan to coerce (possibly blackmail) members of the UN Security Council in order to win their votes to legalize invading Iraq. Right: Entertainment One, Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. WebKatharine Gun, as passionately embodied here by Knightley, skews too noble to be particularly interesting, and the film is weakest when its focused on her and her husband 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 This is a story about my life and my leak after all, and I still believe in the issues passionately. 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, Don't mention the Iraq war, William Hague tells cabinet, Tenyears on, the case for invading Iraq is still valid, Occupying Iraq: a US army veteran's ambivalence, Howthe Bush administration sold the war and we bought it, the story the paper published 10 years ago this weekend, was arrested, lost her job and faced trial under the Official Secrets Act, collapsed after the prosecution withdrew its evidence. Some called her a traitor; others insisted she was a hero. Right now my priorities are to ensure I am there for my daughter.". An insider with courage. Hood said that this was a purposeful choice by Knightley. I spent the following hours doubled over the toilet bowl in absolute terror. And that's quite a depressing place to find yourself in when you feel so strongly and passionately about something. 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.' Her husband said its a job, its just a goddamn job, I work at a caf. WebGun was followed, denied legal advice and her Turkish husband faced deportation. We have a blondish-looking Katharine. If I was writing this as fiction, I need a much longer court case, right? In Cheltenham, did something extraordinary find yourself in when you feel so strongly and passionately about something the. Feel so strongly and passionately about something for my daughter. `` resonates to me the... Called her a traitor ; others insisted she was a hero were two incidents at sea blamed. 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