Daniel Ellsberg għandu messaġġ li l-maniġers tal-istat tal-gwerra ma jridux li n-nies jisimgħu.
“Jekk għandek informazzjoni li għandha x’taqsam ma’ qerq jew illegalità fit-tkomplija ta’ politiki żbaljati jew gwerra aggressiva,” qal fi stqarrija maħruġa l-ġimgħa li għaddiet, “ma stennix li tneħħiha u taħseb dwarha, ikkunsidra li taġixxi fil-ħin. bi kwalunkwe spiża għalik innifsek.... Agħmel dak li għamlet Katharine Gun.”
Jekk ma tafx x'għamlet Katharine Gun, agħti l-ġibs lill-qawwa tal-midja tas-sistema tal-gwerra.
ta' Ellsberg vidjo statement went public as this month began, just before the 15th anniversary of when a British newspaper, the Osservatur, revealed a secret NSA memo — thanks to Katharine Gun. At the UK’s intelligence agency GCHQ, about 100 people received the same email memo mill-Aġenzija tas-Sigurtà Nazzjonali fl-aħħar jum ta’ Jannar 2003, seba’ ġimgħat qabel ma bdiet l-invażjoni tal-Iraq. Katharine Gun biss, b'riskju personali kbir, iddeċidiet li tnixxi d-dokument.
Kieku aktar nies ħadu riskji bħal dawn kmieni fl-2003, il-Gwerra tal-Iraq setgħet ġiet evitata. Kieku aktar nies kienu lesti li jieħdu riskji bħal dawn fl-2018, il-qatla militari attwali f'diversi nazzjonijiet, prinċipalment iffinanzjata minn dawk li jħallsu t-taxxi tal-Istati Uniti, tista' titnaqqas jekk ma titwaqqafx. L-imblukkar ta' informazzjoni dwar whistleblowing tal-passat iċaħħad lill-pubbliku minn mudelli ta' ispirazzjoni.
Dik hija t-tip ta’ realtà li George Orwell kien qed jirreferi għaliha meta kiteb: “Min jikkontrolla l-passat jikkontrolla l-futur; min jikkontrolla l-preżent jikkontrolla l-passat.”
Fifteen years ago, “I find myself reading on my computer from the Osservatur the most extraordinary leak, or unauthorized disclosure, of classified information that I’d ever seen,” Ellsberg recalled, “and that definitely included and surpassed my own disclosure of top-secret information, a history of U.S. decision-making in Vietnam years earlier.” The Pentagon Papers whistleblower instantly recognized that, in the Osservatur article, “I was looking at something that was clearly classified much higher than top secret…. It was an operational cable having to do with how to conduct communications intelligence.”
Dak li qara Ellsberg fl-istorja tal-gazzetta “kien cable mill-NSA li talab lill-GCHQ biex jgħin fl-interċettazzjoni tal-komunikazzjonijiet, u dan kien jimplika kemm komunikazzjonijiet tal-uffiċċju kif ukoll tad-dar, ta’ kull membru tal-Kunsill tas-Sigurtà tan-NU. Issa, għaliex l-NSA jkollha bżonn GCHQ biex tagħmel dan? Għax kundizzjoni biex ikun hemm il-kwartieri ġenerali tan-NU u l-Kunsill tas-Sigurtà fl-Istati Uniti fi New York kienet li l-aġenziji tal-intelliġenza tal-Istati Uniti wiegħdu jew kienu meħtieġa li ma jwettqux intelligence fuq membri tan-NU. Ukoll, ovvjament iridu hekk. Allura, jiddependu fuq l-alleati tagħhom, il-budies, fl-Ingliżi biex iwettqu dawn l-atti kriminali għalihom. U b’dan b’mod ċar ħsibt li xi ħadd għoli ħafna fl-aċċess fis-servizzi tal-intelliġenza tal-Gran Brittanja għandu ma jmurx kontra dak li kien diġà ċar it-triq għal gwerra illegali.”
Iżda fil-fatt, it-tnixxija ma ġietx minn "xi ħadd għoli ħafna" fil-GCHQ. Il-whistleblower irriżulta li kien lingwista ta’ 28 sena u analista fl-aġenzija, Katharine Gun, li kienet għażlet li tintervjeni kontra l-mixja għall-gwerra.
Kif għandu Gun irrakkontati, hi u impjegati oħra tal-GCHQ “irċevew email mingħand uffiċjal għoli fl-Aġenzija tas-Sigurtà Nazzjonali. Qalet li l-aġenzija kienet ‘tgħaqqad żieda partikolarment diretta lejn il-membri tal-Kunsill tas-Sigurtà tan-NU,’ u li riedet ‘il-firxa sħiħa ta’ informazzjoni li tista’ tagħti vantaġġ lil dawk li jfasslu l-politika tal-Istati Uniti biex jiksbu riżultati favorevoli għall-għanijiet tal-Istati Uniti jew biex iwarrbu sorpriżi’. ”
Fi kliem ieħor, il-gvernijiet tal-Istati Uniti u l-Ingliżi riedu jisimgħu delegazzjonijiet ewlenin tan-NU u mbagħad jimmanipulawhom jew saħansitra jirrikattawhom biex jivvutaw għall-gwerra.
Katharine Gun took action: “I was furious when I read that email and leaked it. Soon afterwards, when the Osservatur ran a front-page story — ‘U.S. dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war’ — I confessed to the leak and was arrested on suspicion of the breach of section 1 of the Official Secrets Act.”
Il-whistleblowing seħħet f'ħin reali. "Din ma kinitx storja," kif qal Ellsberg. “Dan kien cable kurrenti, stajt nara immedjatament mid-data, u kien qabel ma l-gwerra kienet fil-fatt bdiet kontra l-Iraq. U l-iskop ċar tiegħu kien li jinduċi l-appoġġ tal-membri tal-Kunsill tas-Sigurtà biex jappoġġjaw riżoluzzjoni ġdida tan-NU għall-invażjoni tal-Iraq.”
The eavesdropping was aimed at gaining a second — and this time unequivocal — Security Council resolution in support of an invasion. “British involvement in this would be illegal without a second resolution,” Ellsberg said. “How are they going to get that? Obviously essentially by blackmail and intimidation, by knowing the private wants and embarrassments, possible embarrassments, of people on the Security Council, or their aides, and so forth. The idea was, in effect, to coerce their vote.”
Katharine Gun żbaljat dak il-pjan. Filwaqt li bilkemm irrappurtat fil-midja Amerikana (minkejja l-aktar avvanzata aħbarijiet produced by my colleagues at the Institute for Public Accuracy beginning in early March of 2003), the revelations published by the Osservatur caused huge media coverage across much of the globe — and sparked outrage in several countries with seats on the Security Council.
“In the rest of the world there was great interest in the fact that American intelligence agencies were interfering with their policies of their representatives in the Security Council,” Ellsberg noted. A result was that for some governments on the Security Council at the time, the leak “made it impossible for their representatives to support the U.S. wish to legitimize this clear case of aggression against Iraq. So, the U.S. had to give up its plan to get a supporting vote in the UN.” The U.S. and British governments “went ahead anyway, but without the legitimating precedent of an aggressive war that would have had, I think, many consequences later.”
Ellsberg qalet: “Dak li kien l-aktar impressjonanti dak iż-żmien u li għadu għalija dwar dan l-iżvelar kien li ż-żagħżugħa li ħarset lejn dan il-cable jiltaqa’ mal-kompjuter tagħha fil-GCHQ aġixxiet kważi immedjatament fuq dak li rat kien l-insegwiment ta’ gwerra illegali b’mezzi illegali... . Spiss ġejt mistoqsi, hemm xi ħaġa dwar ir-rilaxx tal-Karti tal-Pentagon dwar il-Vjetnam li jiddispjaċik. U t-tweġiba tiegħi hija iva, ħafna. Jiddispjaċini li ma ħriġtx id-dokumenti top-secret disponibbli għalija fil-Pentagon fl-1964, snin qabel fil-fatt tajthom lis-Senat u mbagħad lill-gazzetti. Snin ta’ gwerra u snin ta’ bumbardamenti. Ma kienx li kont qed nikkunsidra dak il-ħin kollu. F'dak il-punt ma kellix preċedent biex jagħtini struzzjonijiet dwar dan. Imma fi kwalunkwe każ, stajt inkun ferm aktar effettiv biex nevita dik il-gwerra kieku aġixxijt ħafna qabel.”
Katharine Gun “was not dealing only with historical material,” Ellsberg emphasizes, she “was acting in a timely fashion very quickly on her right judgement that what she was being asked to participate in was wrong. I salute her. She’s my hero. I think she’s a model for other whistleblowers. And for a long time I’ve said to people in her position or my old position in the government: Don’t do what I did. Don’t wait till the bombs are falling or thousands more have died.”
By making her choice, Gun risked two years of imprisonment. In Ellsberg’s words, she seemed to be facing “a sure conviction — except that the government was not willing to have the legality of that war discussed in a courtroom, and in the end dropped the charges.”
As this month began, Katharine Gun spoke at a London news conference, co-sponsored by ExposeFacts and RootsAction.org (organizations I’m part of) and hosted by the National Union of Journalists. Speaking alongside her were three other whistleblowers — Thomas Drake, Matthew Hoh and Jesselyn Radack — who have emerged as eloquent American truth tellers from the NSA, State Department and Justice Department. The presentations by the four are stunning to watch.
L-inizjattivi tagħhom, meħuda b’riskju personali kbir, jenfasizzaw kif nistgħu naħtfu l-ħin biex nagħmlu użu mill-opportunitajiet għal azzjonijiet ta’ kuxjenza diretti. Din il-verità hija 'l bogħod milli limitata għal dak li nsejħu whistleblowing. Huwa dwar possibbiltajiet f'dinja fejn is-silenzju ħafna drabi jkun kunsens għal dak li hu ħażin, u t-tfixkil tal-inġustizzja huwa imperattiv biex jinħoloq futur aktar uman.
Norman Solomon huwa l-koordinatur tal-grupp attivisti onlajn RootsAction.org u d-direttur eżekuttiv tal-Istitut għall-Eżattezza Pubblika. Huwa l-awtur ta’ tużżana kotba fosthom “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.”
ZNetwork huwa ffinanzjat biss permezz tal-ġenerożità tal-qarrejja tiegħu.
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