Army Private in WikiLeaks Case Transferred to US Military Jail
VOA News
30 July 2010
The U.S. military says an American soldier suspected of leaking military secrets to the WikiLeaks website has been moved from Kuwait to a military jail in Virginia.
Army Private First Class Bradley Manning was flown to Quantico Marine Base to await trial for leaking the top-secret information.
In April, WikiLeaks posted classified video of a 2007 helicopter strike in Iraq that killed two Iraqis who were on assignment for the Reuters news agency. Two months later, the U.S. military announced it had detained Manning for allegedly releasing the classified information.
Manning also has come under suspicion after WikiLeaks this week published tens of thousands of secret documents relating to the Afghan war. The U.S. Defense Department has said the latest leak may cost lives and damage relations with allies.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates described the more than 90,000 classified documents as a "mountain of raw data" that did not shed new light on U.S. policy in Afghanistan. He added, however, that the material could aid the enemy on the battlefield. Gates said he had asked the FBI to assist in a criminal investigation.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his source "might already have on their hands the blood of a young soldier or that of an Afghan family."
U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday convened the first meeting of his national security team since Sunday's publication of the documents to discuss Afghanistan and Pakistan. Among those taking part in the meeting were Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Gates, CIA Director Leon Panetta and National Security Advisor General James Jones, as well as the new U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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