[Media-watch] FW: Katharine Gun Campaign Appeal

[David Miller]

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gerard Rosenberg, Our World Our Say" <gerardr at ourworldoursay.org>

> Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 4:21 PM
> Subject: Katharine Gun Campaign Appeal
>
>
> Dear 
>
> Katharine Gun, a courageous former translator at GCHQ, is facing two years
> is prison for exposing to The Observer how Britain and America spied on UN
> Security Council members before the vote on the Iraq war.
>
> Please help Our World Our Say get the charges against Katharine dropped.
It
> is vital that we place adverts in the press, to get the message out about
> her bravery. I am extremely grateful for the help you have already given
to
> us but the fact is that right now we do not have the cash to place these
> adverts.
>
> At http://www.owos.info/make_a_donation/katharine.php you can donate
quickly
> and securely, to help raise the funds we need.
>
> I have attached below a preview copy of an email we are sending out later
> this week to over 150,000 people  about her plight. Katharine faces two
> years in prison, simply for exposing the devious activities of our own and
> the American Governments.
>
> The email is written by Daniel Ellsberg, the famous whistleblower whose
> Pentagon Papers revelations about US government deception helped end the
> Vietnam War.  Daniel is deeply concerned about Katharine's situation and
> about the deceitful means by which the US and British Governments
harnessed
> public support for war.
>
> Katharine Gun will appear at the Old Bailey on the 25th February.  Our
World
> Our Say is asking supporters to call on their MP and on Tony Blair to
ensure
> the Government drops the charges against her.
>
> We want to run full-page adverts in at least two national newspapers to
> encourage people to do this.  Please consider helping us as generously and
> as quickly as you can.
>
> Please go to http://www.owos.info/katharine.php you can see a draft copy
of
> the advert we are planning to place.
>
> Daniel Ellsberg's message (below) sets out the case fully. We are
extremely
> fortunate to have his backing as this is one of the most important
campaigns
> that OWOS has run to date.
>
> It will also help to further increase the pressure on our Government to
> admit its deceit about the Iraq war itself.
> Thank you for anything you can do to help.
>
> Yours sincerely,
> Gerard Rosenberg
>
> National Coordinator
> Our World Our Say
> www.ourworldoursay.org
>
>
> LETTER FROM DANIEL ELLSBERG:
>
>
> Dear Friend,
>
> I am writing to ask you to help Katharine Gun, a courageous GCHQ
translator,
> who faces prison for exposing an illegal spying campaign. You can help her
> now by going to www.owos.info/katharine.php - she has a pre trial hearing
at
> the Old Bailey on 25th February.
>
> In the weeks leading up to the war, at a time when the UN was still
> considering whether to pass a resolution authorizing war, Katharine
> disclosed to The Observer that the US National Security Agency had asked
the
> British government to help in a surveillance operation focused on the six
> delegations holding the balance of power in the UN Security Council. This
> involved bugging home and office phones and intercepting e-mails of
> diplomats from friendly countries such as Chile and Mexico.
>
> I urge you to contact Tony Blair and your local MP asking that the case
> against Katharine be dropped.  Please take few moments to do this now at
> www.owos.info/katharine.php
>
> Back in the 1960s, I served three US Presidents - Kennedy, Johnson and
> Nixon - who lied repeatedly and blatantly about the reasons for entering
> Vietnam and the risks in our staying there. For the past year I have seen
> history repeat itself. I believe that George Bush and Tony Blair lied -
and
> continue to lie - as blatantly about their reasons for entering Iraq as
the
> Presidents I served did about Vietnam.
>
> In 1971 I released to the press what became known as the Pentagon Papers:
> 7000 pages of top-secret documents demonstrating that virtually everything
> four American presidents had told the public about our involvement in
> Vietnam was false. In the autumn of 2002, I hoped that officials in
> Washington and London who knew that our countries were being led into an
> illegal, bloody war and occupation would consider doing what I wish I had
> done in 1964 or 1965, years before I did, before the bombs started to
fall:
> expose these lies, with documents.
>
> I can only admire the more timely, courageous action of Katherine Gun, who
> risked her career and freedom to expose clandestine actions to win support
> for an illegal war, before that war had started. Her disclosure of secret
> efforts to manipulate Security Council votes  may have been critical in
> denying the invasion a false cloak of legitimacy. That did not prevent the
> aggression, but it was reasonable for her to hope that her country would
not
> choose to act as an outlaw. She did what she could to save lives, in time
> for it to make a difference, as indeed others should have done, and still
> can.
>
> I have no doubt that there are thousands of pages of documents in safes in
> London and Washington right now - the Pentagon Papers of Iraq - whose
> unauthorized revelation would drastically alter the discourse on whether
we
> should continue sending our children to die in Iraq. Those who reveal
> documents on the scale necessary to return foreign policy to democratic
> control risk prosecution and prison sentences, as Katharine is now facing.
I
> faced 12 felony counts and a possible sentence of 115 years: the charges
> were eventually dismissed.
>
> Exposing government lies carries a heavy personal risk, even in our
> democracies. But that risk can be worthwhile when a war's worth of lives
is
> at stake. Please go to www.owos.info/katharine.php to contact Tony Blair
and
> your own Member of Parliament today asking that the charges against
> Katharine Gun be dropped. You can also write a message of support there
for
> Katharine, which OWOS will forward on to her.
>
> Sincerely yours,
>
> Daniel Ellsberg
>
>
>
> If you do no longer wish to receive emails from us please click the link
> below:
> http://www.owos.info/cancel.php?usr=53161
>
>
>
>
>
>
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