U.S. Soldier Arrested In Connection With Wikileaks Inquiry

Bradley Manning, 22, He was serving in the 2nd Brigade of the 10th Mountain

Army officials have arrested a soldier in Baghdad who is accused of leaking a video which shows Apache helicopters gunning down unarmed civilians in Iraq. The video was posted on the website Wikileaks.

Taken from the cockpit of the helicopter the video shows a group of unarmed men walking down the street before they were shot by the helicopters. In the video voice of the gunners can be heard as they laugh and call the men they shot ‘dead bastards.’

Victims of the gunning included the photographer of Reuters Namir Noor-Eldeen and his driver Saeed Chmagh.

The arrested officer, Bradley Manning, 22, was detained at Kuwait. He was serving in the 2nd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division in Baghdad. Bryan Whitman, the spokesperson of Pentagon told the press that they were looking at Manning’s involvement in the 2007 video provided to Wikileaks.

An official statement released from Iraq said that the Department of Defense takes the management of all the classified information very seriously. The statement further said that such informations are vital as it affects national security, the lives of soldiers, and also the operations abroad.

Manning claimed to leak the controversial video during an online chat with Adrian Lamo, who is well-known computer hacker. Lamo himself was charged for breaking into the computer system of The New York Times in 2004.