Amanpour and Company

BUT BASICALLY YOU TRIED TO BLOW THE WHISTLE ON WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS A FALSE INTELLIGENCE DIRECTIVE, TO TRY TO COOK UP A REASON FOR THE IRAQ WAR. YOU WANTED TO STOP THE IRAQ WAR. YOU DIDN'T, BUT NONETHELESS, YOU WANTED TO DO THAT. HOW SCARY WAS IT FOR YOU TO GO AHEAD AND DO WHAT YOU DID? >> IT'S, YOU KNOW -- IT'S VERY HARD TO EXPLAIN THE POINT OF VIEW I HAD OR THE MENTAL STATE I WAS IN AT THE TIME. ALL I COULD SEE WAS THIS LOOMING WAR. IT SEEMED INEVITABLE. IT WAS, AS IT HAPPENED. BUT IT SEEMED INEVITABLE. IT SEEMED LIKE IT WAS -- THE WAGONS WERE ROLLING FAST AND FURIOUS TOWARDS THIS AWFUL SITUATION. AND I WAS KIND OF IN TUNNEL VISION. I WAS SORT OF -- I FELT LIKE I WAS BLINKERED AS A HORSE. I COULDN'T SEE BEYOND THIS WAR, AND ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS PUT A SPOKE IN THE WHEEL OF THIS WAGON. >> AND THAT SPOKE WAS THIS MEMO THAT HAD BEEN LEAKED TO YOU AND THEN YOU LEAKED IT TO THE PRESS. NOT LEAKED BUT DELIVERED TO YOU BY SOMEBODY WITHIN YOUR ORGANIZATION. >> WELL, I WAS A RECIPIENT ALONGSIDE ABOUT 100 OTHER RECIPIENTS OF THAT EMAIL. >> OKAY. SO WHAT DID IT SAY, AND WHAT WAS YOUR DECISION-MAKING PROCESS? >> WELL, SIMPLY, THE EMAIL WAS FROM THE NSA, WHICH IS THE U.S. EQUIVALENT OF GCHQ. AND IT WAS ASKING FOR OUR ASSISTANCE, GCHQ'S ASSISTANCE, IN COLLECTING INFORMATION FROM SIX OF THE U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL SWING NATIONS. SO THAT WAS ANGOLA, BULGARIA, CAMEROON, CHILE, GUINEA, PAKISTAN. AND THOSE SIX SWING NATIONS, THEIR DELEGATES -- >> WHEN YOU SAY SWING NATIONS, THEY WERE ONES THAT THE U.S. AND UK WERE TRYING TO GET ON SIDE. >> RIGHT. >> SO YOU COULD GET A U.N. RESOLUTION FOR THE WAR, CORRECT? >> THAT'S RIGHT, YEAH. THEY WERE GOING TO USE INFORMATION GATHERED FROM THE INTELLIGENCE TO EITHER BRIBE OR BLACKMAIL THEM INTO VOTING FOR THIS WAR. >> AND IN THE FILM, YOUR CHARACTER, PLAYED BY KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, BASICALLY SAYS -- I MEAN YOU SAY YOU WERE PROUD OF WORKING IN GCHQ UNTIL YOU SAW THIS MEMO. YOU SAY THAT, YOU KNOW, I DIDN'T JOIN IN ORDER TO FIX A VOTE IN THE U.N. TO CONVINCE THE WORLD TO GO TO A WAR, TO GO TO WAR. HERE'S A CLIP OF YOU BEING INTERROGATED BY THE POLICE DETECTIVE. >> SO YOU WORK FOR THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. >> NO. NOT REALLY. >> NO? >> GOVERNMENTS CHANGE. I WORK FOR THE BRITISH PEOPLE. I GATHER INTELLIGENCE SO THAT THE GOVERNMENT CAN PROTECT THE BRITISH PEOPLE. I DO NOT GATHER INTELLIGENCE SO THAT THE GOVERNMENT CAN LIE TO THE BRITISH PEOPLE.