THE SPY WHO TRIED TO STOP A WAR
Katharine Gun and the Secret Plot to Sanction the Iraq Invasion
Marcia and Thomas Mitchell
William Collins
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2019
Copyright © Marcia and Thomas Mitchell 2008; 2019
Cover design by Jack Smyth
Cover image © Alexandru Zdrobau/Unsplash
Marcia and Thomas Mitchell assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins
Source ISBN: 9780008348564
Ebook Edition © October 2019 ISBN: 9780008348571
Version: 2019-07-30
For daughter Kristin and sons Alan and Jay, and for their
loved ones – which makes them ours as well
And for Paul and Jan Harwood,
Katharine’s remarkable parents
It was a decision of conscience in a world where nobody celebrates that. She will go down in history as a hero of the human spirit.
– SEAN PENN
We are going to be in a very dangerous situation as a country if people feel they can simply spill out secrets or details of security operations, whether false or true actually, and get away with it.
– TONY BLAIR
CONTENTS
PART I: INVITATION TO A CONSPIRACY
CHAPTER THREE: FOUR WEEKS THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
CHAPTER FOUR: CONSCIENCE MEETS INSPECTOR TINTIN
CHAPTER FIVE: DETOUR ON THE SECRET ROAD TO WAR
CHAPTER SEVEN: SILENCE IN WASHINGTON
CHAPTER NINE: EIGHT MONTHS IN LIMBO
CHAPTER TEN: THE THIRD-CULTURE KID
CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE BLONDE WHO DROPPED THE BOMBSHELL
CHAPTER TWELVE: DEPORTATION REVISITED
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE PROSECUTION AND THE DEFENCE PREPARE FOR COURT
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: A HISTORIC COLLAPSE AT THE OLD BAILEY
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: REACTION, REBELLION, AND A CRUSHING NEW REVELATION
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: AN UNCOMMON DAY IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: MOTIVATIONS, MISDEEDS, AND TRAGIC MISTAKES
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: WHISTLE-BLOWING: CONSCIENCE AND CONFRONTATION
CHAPTER NINETEEN: A LIFE INTERRUPTED