A US soldier has been arrested for allegedly leaking classified footage of a controversial 2007 helicopter strike that killed a dozen people in Baghdad.
According to Reuters, 22-year-old Army Specialist Bradley Manning is being held in pre-trial confinement in Kuwait “for allegedly releasing classified information.”
“The Department of Defense takes the management of [such] information very seriously because it affects our national security, the lives of our soldiers and our operations abroad,” the US military confirmed in an official statement.
“The results of the investigation will be released upon completion of the investigation.”
The above-mentioned video, which includes a real-time audio track, offers an aerial view of a dozen individuals, including two Reuters reporters, moving through a Baghdad square.
The helicopter – which opened fire on the group – later attacked a vehicle that arrived to assist the wounded.
A US military spokesperson originally responded to the video by explaining that the helicopter crew mistook a camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
It should be noted that Manning was turned in by former hacker Adrian Lamo, who claimed the soldier leaked combat video footage and hundreds of thousands of classified State Department records.
“I’m heartsick for Manning and his family. I hope they can forgive me some day for doing what I felt had to be done,” Lamo wrote on his Facebook page.
“I’ve never turned anyone in before, and don’t plan to again. But he was like a kid playing with a loaded gun. Someone was bound to get hurt.”
