U.S. soldier arrested for leaking infamous helicopter video

An American soldier is under arrest and facing possible criminal charges for allegedly leaking an infamous classified video that shows U.S. Apache helicopters firing civilians in Iraq. The headline-making video, filmed in Baghdad in 2007, was first released on the WikiLeaks website in April, but it took two more months for the Pentagon to figure out the source of the leak. Specialist Bradley Manning, a 22-year-old army intelligence analyst, is now in custody in Kuwait. In a strange twist, it was actually a former high-profile computer hacker who turned Manning over to authorities. Adrian Lamo says Manning boasted about the leak during a series of online chats. “A lot of people have labelled me a snitch,” Lamo says. “I guess I deserve that on this one but not as a generality… I’m contacted on a daily basis by all kinds of people who confess to all kinds of federal crimes. I have never once turned them in, even when the FBI offered me a deal.” The difference this time? National security, Lamo says. “I was worried for my family—that if I were obstructing justice that they could be caught up in any investigation,” he said. “I wanted to do this one by the book, by the numbers. I didn’t want any more FBI agents knocking at the door.”

BBC