 |
| Keira Knightley and Katharine Gun |
Another rainy Thursday sees your intrepid reporter riding upon a number 88 bus into the centre of Sheffield to visit The Showroom. I was attending an early afternoon screening of "Official Secrets" starring Keira Knightley as Katharine Gun.
You might call the film a docudrama because it is based upon a true story set in the years 2003 and 2004. You may remember that in those years George W. Bush, faithfully supported by Tony Blair, waged war upon Iraq. They said that there were Weapons of Mass Destruction but there weren't. It was a hoax, arguably a spiteful pretext for taking a twisted form of revenge upon the Arabic speaking world for 9/11.
In south west England, near Cheltenham, you will find the beating heart of Great Britain's leading intelligence organisation - Government Communications Headquarters or GCHQ. This secret service employs around 6000 people and behind the scenes they monitor international political issues and threats to our democracy.
Back in 2003 one of these minions was a bright young linguist called Katharine Gun. Most of her spying activity was quite humdrum but one day she came across a shocking message that she could not ignore. It concerned The United Nations and how America planned to bug the offices of Angola, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, and Pakistan in order to bring pressure upon these "swing" nations to get behind Bush and Blair's planned military invasion of Iraq.
Katharine Gun immediately foresaw the terrible implications of that secret missive. It was at a time when there were mass demonstrations against a possible war. For example, London hosted the biggest anti-war protest march that this country has ever seen.
Though she knew she was breaking The Official Secrets Act, Mrs Gun bravely passed the message on and before the invasion had properly commenced a shattering headline story appeared in "The Observer" newspaper - based upon her revelation: "Revealed: US Dirty Tricks to Win Vote on Iraq War" (March 3rd 2003).
She was arrested and eventually brought to court but the case was dropped by the British government as the trial would have incriminated several members of the political establishment. By this time the war in Iraq was in full swing. It was a war that killed far more than 100,000 Iraqi citizens and almost 5,000 invading military personnel from the so-called "coalition" - mostly Americans.
I found "Official Secrets" to be gripping and convincing. Keira Knightley played her role superbly and there were excellent support performances from Matt Smith as "Observer" reporter Martin Bright and Ralph Feinnes as defending lawyer Ben Emmerson.
This wasn't some spy story churned out of an over-fertile author's imagination. It was a portrait of something real that happened not so long ago, something quite chilling and disturbing. Bush and Blair have a lot to answer for though they are still free men, still clinging to their fakery. The bottom line is that there really were no WMD's. It was all a terrible lie that killed so many innocent people and for what? What did that tragic, pointless war achieve?
The sad thing is that peace has eluded the Middle East for so long, it seems impossible that the nations in that area (and in some others) will ever get along with each other - or the ethnic, religious and other groups inside each nation.
ReplyDeleteKatharine Gun was very brave, but unfortunately, as you say, those responsible for those horros are still free men and living very sheltered and pampered lives.
Maybe you want to correct the spelling of her surname in the caption of the first picture.
The invasion of Iraq was like stoking a fire.
DeleteThanks for pointing out my error. Genuinely appreciated.
P.S. What are "horros"?
You got me there, Neil!
DeletePerhaps "Horros" are chewy sweets produced by "Haribo" for the Halloween market?
DeleteIf I'll suggest that to the Haribo marketing people next week, they'll have the new product ready for Halloween 2020! I'll share my profits with you, of course.
DeleteIt's a deal!
DeleteWe'll never know the full extent of all of the damage done, the innocent lives ended, the chaos and destruction.
ReplyDeleteOkay. Now I'm depressed.
Happy Friday, Mr. P!
Sorry for depressing you MM. Happy Friday!
DeleteWe will live with the consequences of that war for decades to come. And we will never learn. That is the frightening and depressing thing.
ReplyDeleteWe need peacemongers - not warmongers.
DeleteThat sounds like a great movie. I hadn't heard of it.
ReplyDeleteI was dead set against the Iraq war. When Bush was elected everyone said Saddam's days were numbered, and that was even before 9/11 -- it was apparent Bush then used that horrific event to justify an invasion. But interestingly, when Tony Blair backed him up, I began to waver -- I didn't trust Bush but I DID trust Blair. It's still puzzling to me why Blair got into bed with Bush, who is essentially a war criminal.
I was a keen Blair supporter until then. I think you might love this film - partly because "The Observer" figures largely in the plot... but there are no school libraries.
DeleteInteresting. I did not hear about the report being made public. The Iraq war proved our utter stupidity when it comes to dealing with people who are different and have different forms of government.
ReplyDeleteI feel sure that to Bush it was all about revenge even though Iraq was not connected to the 9/11 attacks.
DeleteOf course, such skullduggery could never happen now.
ReplyDeleteBut who was responsible for the skullduggery? Miss Gun or Bush and Blair?
DeleteOr one of the other six combinations?
DeleteI hadn't heard of this movie. I took a look at the trailer, it looks good. Do you ever wonder what you would do if you were put into the same situation? I do. I tend to be very impulsive and deal with the consequences later. Good thing I don't work in intelligence gathering:)
ReplyDeleteI would like to think that I would have acted exactly like Katharine Gun - but who knows?
Delete