Wikileaks site unfazed by arrest of US army 'source'

Whistle-blowing website Wikileaks has said that the detention of an alleged confidential source by the US military does not compromise its work.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange told BBC News that other potential whistle-blowers should not be put off from sending material to the site.

The US has detained US military analyst Bradley Manning on suspicion of leaking classified material to the site.

Mr Assange would not confirm whether Mr Manning was a source.

"We endeavour to protect our sources," he told BBC News. "We do not know if Mr Manning is a source, but we understand there are allegations that are being taken seriously so we are naturally inclined to try to defend [him]."

The US army in Iraq has said that Specialist (Spc) Manning was in Kuwait and had been "placed in pre-trial confinement for allegedly releasing classified information".

One video reportedly posted to the site by Mr Manning shows a US Apache helicopter killing up to 12 people - including two Reuters journalists - during an attack in Baghdad in 2007. Two children were also seriously injured in the assault on the group, which contained some armed men.

'Sacred oath'

Mr Manning's identity was reportedly revealed to the US authorities by a former high-profile hacker, Adrian Lamo, whom Mr Manning had contacted via e-mail and instant messenger.

During the course of their conversations, Mr Lamo told BBC News, Mr Manning boasted about handing over military videos and 260,000 classified US embassy messages to Wikileaks.

"At the moment he gave me the information, it was basically a suicide pact," Mr Lamo said.

He handed his name to US authorities because of concerns over US national security and because he did not want to be found to have been "obstructing justice" in the course of any investigation.

"I didn't want any more FBI agents knocking at the door," he said.

Mr Lamo has previously been convicted for hacking into the New York Times, Yahoo and Microsoft. He now works as a journalist and security analyst. ...

via BBC News - Wikileaks site unfazed by arrest of US army 'source'.

A US military analyst, Bradley Manning, has been arrested on suspicion of leaking classified combat video and documents to a whistle-blower website.

Specialist Manning, 22, was detained during a tour of duty in Iraq, and is being held in Kuwait pending further investigations.

The WikiLeaks website posted a video which it says shows the US military shooting civilians in Baghdad in 2007.

It has not confirmed Spc Manning as its source for the helicopter footage.

News of his arrest first broke on the Wired.com website.

A former hacker said he had turned the analyst in out of concern for US national security. - bbc