[Updated at 11:46 a.m.] The U.S. military said Tuesday it is pressing criminal charges against Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, 22, for allegedly transferring classified data onto his personal computer and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system.
Manning of Potomac, Maryland, is suspected of leaking a classified 2007 video of an Apache helicopter strike that killed 12 civilians in Baghdad, including two journalists from the Reuters wire service, the military said.
Manning was deployed with the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, in Baghdad, Iraq, according to the military.
According to Wired.com, Manning leaked the video to the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks.com, which posted the video in April. Wired.com reported that Manning confessed to the leak in a series of online chats with a former computer hacker.
He allegedly owned up to leaking other items to WikiLeaks, including a classified Army document assessing the threat level of the website, according to the article, as well as State Department cables.
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All those laws that protect whistleblowers sure make me trust the government now! Oh, I know he leaked 'classified' stuff.....maybe we should be asking why it was classified? Like maybe the govt screwed up again and maybe some officers should lose their jobs? Just what was the purpose of making this 'classified' if not to hide the truth? Oh, wait, maybe the whole world doesn't know that we have helicopter gunships in Iraq and firing a chain gun at people makes a nasty mess and a pretty frightening video. Pardon me.
All you conspiracy buffs and anti-military folks... To me, it looks like they shot an armed group. I don't know the situation on the ground... maybe these guys felt they had to carry AKs and an RPG for self-protection in a dangerous zone. Or maybe those guys were bad guys. But one thing I do see: these are not trigger-happy soldiers mowing down civilians willy-nilly. They are calling in for approval for every shot fired, and professionally/methodically taking out their targets. It's a war, folks. People are going to get shot in a war. If you don't like people getting shot, then tell your government not to start a war. This is not an embarrassing video. If anything, it shows our military in a very good light.
"I don't know the situation on the ground".... enough said.
"A Fool's War always ends badly."
Doesn't pay to be a whistle-blower with the Federal Government. Free those who commit a crime and charge those whom report it.
This is nothing new for the rest of the world, Americans being cowards in their big war machines. "oh he's pointing his sony camera at me!" You people should praise this individual for releasing this video. For opening your eyes! yet you people are against him! for what? for showing you the reality of your massacre("war")? Your government has censored so much you seem to embrace it.
I know Americans they're not all bad, I'm almost certain the stubborn blinded fools posting comments are all Republicans.
Imagine England decided to free you of your ignorance and government censorship, and we went to war? shooting your father, mother, uncle down like dogs in the streets from helicopters. This man who released this video is probably the only man with a pair in this whole war.
Trash talk from outsiders not very welcome; there's already enough to go around...
Another war lost for the U.S.A. Was it worth it?
The war was about cheap oil not expensive oil like everyone thinks. Saddam threatened to dump cheap oil on the world market when his sanctions ended, thus destroying the Iranian and Saudi economies, it would have affected a bunch of rich American oil families too, ie Bush, Cheney, Haliburton. Opec and the US had no way to stop it from happening except to invade. Do some research, it's absolutly true!
How about a few hints regarding the source of your "research"...
Most of you have cannot fathom what war is like so before you start complaining about how un just we the US are, picture your son, daughter, father etc behind that gun with what appears to be an RPG pointed at them. The situation was handled correctly. As for leaking the info that should be dealt with accordingly
We will never resolve these conflicts without moral justification...The government tricks it's citizens into enlisting for the cause and when Soldiers and Sailors get their "murder groove on" and American gets medieval (Abu Ghraib) the government turns it's back on it's soldiers...How is what this kid did any different than what General McChrystal's staff did denouncing the Obama Administration in Rolling Stone Magazine, which was treasonous? Or what the Army did to Pat Tillman?
I like this talk that they should not have been armed. This is a war zone and there are several factions including the US military running around killing people. Of course they have weapons. Hell most of America has weapons. It does not mean they should be gunned down like dogs. These arrogant soldiers even blame the civilians for having their kids with them. The persons in the van were only trying to help a wounded person and they were gunned down. They saw the helicopter and even looked at it. I guess since they were only trying to help a wounded man and possibly children they mistakenly assumed they would not be fired on. We wonder why we are hated in many places around the world and now we know why. The good America does is amazing but the damage we do in foreign countries takes away from it. I wonder how these soldiers would of felt if it had of been their kids down there.
Uhh, sorry, but no matter what you think of the war, it's illegal to transfer classified material onto unclassified technology, and it's similarly illegal to load unapproved programs onto government computers. All of us government employees are told that time anfter time after time, and this guy's no exception just because he's a whistleblower.
Prepare to have mind blown: Just because something is illegal doesn't necessarily mean it's not the right thing to do.
Oh yeah bring the hammer down on the whitsleblower. Great PR move there, Uncle Sam.
First off, I don't think there is such a thing as 'murder' in a war zone – the point is pretty much to kill people. This soldier SHOULD be charged for violating his oaths as a US soldier. We train these guys and give them weapons. They are expected to follow orders and regulations. He violated that trust and should go to jail for it. That said, this war was the single biggest mistake in American history. So Saddam was BAD – big deal. He was an effective counter to Iran, and kept the region from completely destabilizing. He wasn't hurting Americans, and had no capability to hurt Americans. Who cares what he did to his own people – NOT OUR PROBLEM!!! Yet another of the many reasons that jacka$$ G.W. will go down in history as the president who did the most HARM to American interests. You want a joke? His name is George.
Just wanted to provide some clarity for some people here who clearly don't understand the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan... If you watch the entire leaked video carefully, you'll see that one or two of the men have AK47s. It is common in these areas for journalists to be abducted as tools for negotiation, and so it is completely normal and justified for them to travel with a small security detachment. If it were Anderson Cooper out there, you can bet he'd be doing the same. To justify slaughtering a group of men just because you see a weapon, and before you positively identify them as the enemy, is irresponsible at best and should be treated -very- seriously. That said, there is -no- excuse whatsoever for the killing of the people trying to recover the one dying survivor... people who were clearly not armed at all. The rules of engagement clearly forbid what happened at that point.
I didn't find it funny when the tank ran over the body of a human being did you?