Bradley Manning, 23, enlisted in the US Army in 2007 and became an intelligence analyst in Iraq, sifting through classified information at Forward Operating Base Hammer, 40 miles east of Baghdad.
Manning was arrested in May and then charged with ‘transferring classified data’
Born in a small town in Oklahoma he went on to spend part of his childhood in Wales, attending a secondary school in his mother’s home town of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire.
He was there from the age of 13, returning to the US during his sixth form years, and fellow pupils described him as a “computer geek”. After arriving in Iraq the young soldier, who is gay, complained of feeling socially “isolated” in the military.
As he spent his time looking through classified information for up to 14 hours a day, he is believed to have become increasingly disillusioned by US foreign policy, once describing “military intelligence” as an “oxymoron”. Manning is said to have tracked down and communicated with Adrian Lamo, a well known former computer hacker in the US, who he thought would help him get information out.
But Lamo later alerted the US authorities and provided them with a series of online exchanges between the two men.
Manning was alleged to have told Lamo that he had found “incredible, awful things that belonged in the public domain and not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington, DC”. He was also said to have boasted that he had used blank CDs to download classified information while pretending to be listening to Lady Gaga.
Manning’s clearance would have given him access to the Secret internet Protocol Router Network used by US military personnel, civilian employees and private contractors. However, investigators are trying to establish whether he had help, both from inside the military, and from civilians.
Lamo claims Manning told him he was aware of at least one other person within the military who was accessing databases without authorisation.
In April, WikiLeaks released leaked footage of attacks by US Apache helicopters which killed two Reuters news staff in Iraq in 2007.
Manning was arrested the following month and then charged with “transferring classified data” and “delivering national defense information to an unauthorised source,” which could carry a maximum sentence of 52 years in jail.
Following the later release by WikiLeaks of hundreds of thousands of documents from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Pentagon has described Manning as a “person of interest” in its hunt for the source.
WikiLeaks has refused to confirm Manning’s involvement in the leaks.
Two weeks ago a member of a group set up to support Manning claimed he was detained by the FBI at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
David House, 23, who has visited Manning at Quantico, claimed he was questioned extensively and had his laptop confiscated.

Bradley Manning, 23, enlisted in the US Army in 2007 and became an intelligence analyst in Iraq, sifting through classified information at Forward Operating Base Hammer, 40 miles east of Baghdad.
Manning was arrested in May and then charged with ‘transferring classified data’Born in a small town in Oklahoma he went on to spend part of his childhood in Wales, attending a secondary school in his mother’s home town of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire.He was there from the age of 13, returning to the US during his sixth form years, and fellow pupils described him as a “computer geek”. After arriving in Iraq the young soldier, who is gay, complained of feeling socially “isolated” in the military.As he spent his time looking through classified information for up to 14 hours a day, he is believed to have become increasingly disillusioned by US foreign policy, once describing “military intelligence” as an “oxymoron”. Manning is said to have tracked down and communicated with Adrian Lamo, a well known former computer hacker in the US, who he thought would help him get information out.But Lamo later alerted the US authorities and provided them with a series of online exchanges between the two men.Manning was alleged to have told Lamo that he had found “incredible, awful things that belonged in the public domain and not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington, DC”. He was also said to have boasted that he had used blank CDs to download classified information while pretending to be listening to Lady Gaga.Manning’s clearance would have given him access to the Secret internet Protocol Router Network used by US military personnel, civilian employees and private contractors. However, investigators are trying to establish whether he had help, both from inside the military, and from civilians.Lamo claims Manning told him he was aware of at least one other person within the military who was accessing databases without authorisation.In April, WikiLeaks released leaked footage of attacks by US Apache helicopters which killed two Reuters news staff in Iraq in 2007.Manning was arrested the following month and then charged with “transferring classified data” and “delivering national defense information to an unauthorised source,” which could carry a maximum sentence of 52 years in jail.Following the later release by WikiLeaks of hundreds of thousands of documents from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Pentagon has described Manning as a “person of interest” in its hunt for the source.WikiLeaks has refused to confirm Manning’s involvement in the leaks.Two weeks ago a member of a group set up to support Manning claimed he was detained by the FBI at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.David House, 23, who has visited Manning at Quantico, claimed he was questioned extensively and had his laptop confiscated.

For Source://www.telegraph.co.uk/