Whistleblower Katherine Gun vindicated!

Reuters link

LONDON (Reuters) - Charges against a spy-service translator who said she had leaked a top-secret memo in an act of conscience to avert war in Iraq have been dropped.

Prosecutors said on Wednesday they did not have enough evidence to prove Katharine Teresa Gun broke the Official Secrets Act, although she freely said she had leaked the email memo which she said disclosed a U.S. plot to spy on U.N. members.

The government said it was not behind prosecutors' decision to drop the case. But political opponents of Prime Minister Tony Blair said authorities had decided to avoid a trial to dodge embarrassing disclosures about the arguments for war.

Gun, who worked as a Chinese translator at the global surveillance centre GCHQ, in Cheltenham, said she had no regrets in leaking the memo from an official in the U.S. National Security Agency to the Observer.

The newspaper said the U.S. agency sought British help in gathering information about wavering U.N. Security Council members it hoped to persuade to support the war.

"I felt that this was an essential and important issue that needed to get out to the public," she told reporters after prosecutors said they were dropping the case.

The Liberal Democratic Party's foreign policy spokesman, Sir Menzies Campbell, said authorities may have dropped the case because they feared some jurors might accept Gun's argument she broke the law to stop an illegal war.

Not about oil, eh? No conspiracy, eh? What say you war proponents now?

[Edited on 26-2-2004 by heelstone]

It's always inspiring to see people take a heroic and humane stand for principles in support of higher human civilization instead of just taking orders from their superiors, exhibiting ordinary self-interest, and similar ant-like behavor

"If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time" --Abraham Lincoln

"You can fool some of the people all of the time--and those are the ones you have to concentrate on!" --George W. Bush

[Edited on 26-2-2004 by Condorcet]

"The newspaper said the U.S. agency sought British help in gathering information about wavering U.N. Security Council members it hoped to persuade to support the war."

Reminds me of the movie "Runaway Jury" that I just saw. Very interesting stuff that I had never considered.

I am a war proponant and I say that it WAS about oil.

i disagree with the method and can't stand Bush, but oil and economic security is important for us.

But there are other reasons it was a good idea. Iraq was about to fall anyway. Saddam held on to just the top, and would have been crushed anyway.


By the way Zedd, I just finished Wizard's First Rule. Awesome stuff, can't wait to get the next book.