RE: Wikileaks Thread

PolitiSUCK
1

Cliffs: The soldier who ‘stole’ and released the video of the helicopter killing innocent people was charged with disclosing classified national defense information

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6653FK20100707?type=domesticNews

[quote=“reuters”"]
The U.S. military said on Tuesday it had charged a soldier in connection with the leak of a classified video showing a 2007 helicopter attack that killed a dozen people in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists.

Army Specialist Bradley Manning, 22, was charged with two criminal counts including allegations he disclosed classified national defense information, exceeded his authorized access to U.S. computers and transferred classified data onto his personal computer, the military said in a statement.

The charges were brought under the military code of justice and could result in a trial by court-martial.
Manning, of Potomac, Maryland, was deployed to Baghdad and was held in pre-trial confinement in Kuwait, U.S. officials said when they announced a month ago that he had been detained.

The gunsight video, which shows an attack by a U.S. Apache helicopter on a group of men in a square in Baghdad, was made public in April by WikiLeaks, a group that promotes the leaking of information to fight government and corporate corruption.

Among those killed in the attack were Reuters photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and his assistant and driver, Saeed Chmagh, 40.

Wired magazine initially reported Manning’s arrest and described him as an intelligence analyst who came under suspicion after he told a former hacker during an email exchange that he had leaked the video.

The magazine said Manning had also claimed to have leaked other classified information, including video of a 2009 bombing in Afghanistan that killed dozens of civilians, and 260,000 classified U.S. diplomatic cables.

The U.S. military statement on Manning’s arrest did not specify what leaked information had led to the charges.

The video of the Baghdad helicopter attack showed an aerial view of men moving through a square in Baghdad. The helicopter opened fire, killing several people and wounding others.

A military spokesman said the helicopter crew mistook a camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
Later the video showed the helicopter opening fire again on a van carrying unarmed civilians who tried to help the wounded.

WikiLeaks said at the time it had obtained the video from military whistleblowers and had been able to view and investigate it after breaking an encryption code.

Manning was deployed with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division[
[/quote]

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Guy is disclosing classified material.

Case closed.

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:tup: Treasonous bastard.

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lol right because this guy is the real criminal, not the murderers he is exposing :stuck_out_tongue:

here’s to hoping 50 more take his place

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Just realized this was in network off topic. Not worth my time. :io:

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in on 1

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I’ll just leave this here.
http://komplexify.com/images/2009/Invalid1.jpg

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Why can’t I own a Canadian?

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That actually still works. What I find more surprising though is the 7th most popular “why” suggestion from google.

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd75/jsears77/why.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd75/jsears77/why.jpg779×726 73.6 KB

10

I am sure the soldier was trying to do a noble thing and bring something to light that he was against. I feel bad that he will get in some potentially serious trouble for this.

HOWEVER
Having been in the military and dealt in a mostly classified field of work he knew what he was doing was wrong. There are proper channels and regulations that control secure information for MANY reasons. The entire system would not work if people could just pick and chooses what they felt should be known.

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All I have to say is I hope the military pays the price as well as the soldier.As a Canadian its getting tiring hearing of friendlys killed ( not just our soldiers). Soldiers are only human too and everyone reacts different to atrocities.

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meh, nothing is going to happen really. the kid will get court martialled and the military will just increase security and make an example of him so that others are scared to release information like this. It’s funny though. Wall-Street whistle blowers get some fame for a short period of time then are ostricized… this guy is going to go to jail… whatever.

for every example we do find out about there are 50 that we don’t and that won’t change anytime soon. but knowing is better than not knowing… same with all the G20 bullshit that is coming out with women being beaten molested behind police lines by plain clothed ‘officers’ etc.

peer source media gives us the benefit of information and helps us do something about some things, but it will be a while before anyone actually gets held accountable for wrong-doing on behalf of the state.

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The only consolation is that from this point on coverups are going to be difficult. The truth is out there and people need to keep checks and balances in all aspects of life-however remember Mandelas plight

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I can’t decide which story will change my life more, this story or the Tiger Woods story.

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^well played…

i wonder how many more classified stories there are that are like this… that remained “classified”

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The story was not classified the video was. You guys are confused as to why this guy is in trouble. The heli has video and is recorded…this is to be used by the military only and this is for manyyyyyyy reasons as I stated earlier(fmr air defense intell sgt so just trust me here). There are regulations and a chain of processes to making the on board video public. You guys never got a new story only a new VIDEO that the soldier stole and posted.

Bottom line is there is never a time where it is ok to put classified or secure information onto your personal computer which he did and certainly not ok to share that information.

Edit - Again I would like to state I am not against what the soldier was trying to do but the way he did it is simply unacceptable. There has to be rules followed in dealing with secret information even if you do not agree. Hope he is ok dealing with the consequences of his actions.

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It’s a sad state of affairs. You can be on the “good guy side”, but not everyone is a “good guy”

That’s really fucked up to hear about the G20 shit with the cops.

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lol, isn’t the whole chopper video “settled science” by now? There is a reason almost all news sources have stopped talking about it with credibility… but for those still unaware, the Wikileaks video ignored the parts of the video that showed the “innocent” people carrying AK47’s and RPGs clearly before they were fired on, and the chopper pilot clearly saying “Hey, these guys have weapons” …

You can legitimately debate whether or not the military should be there or not, but like it or not it’s still a warzone. And if you’re a cameraman hanging out with armed dudes, not wearing your journalist-identification gear, you’re risking your life.

That said, I can’t wait to see what they “leak” next :slight_smile:

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The commentary on the video pretty much solidifies that the soldiers were under the assumption they were dealing with armed personnel. As onyx said, it’s a warzone.

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^^I wonder how many 18 year olds ran to their local recruit office after seeing that video… HEY WAIT A MINUTE!?!