WikiLeaks suspect,US Army private,moved to Virginia

A 22-year-old tech-savvy US Army private,suspected to be behind the disclosure of 91,000 classified documents on the war in Afghanistan....

A 22-year-old tech-savvy US Army private,suspected to be behind the disclosure of 91,000 classified documents on the war in Afghanistan,has been transferred from Kuwait to America following the biggest leak in the American military history.

Bradley Manning,who served as an intelligence analyst in Iraq,was charged in June with eight violations of the US Criminal Code and is the militarys focus in the investigation into the leak of the classified documents to the website WikiLeaks. He was transferred from Kuwait to a Marine Corps brigade in Quantico,Virginia,CNN reported.

Manning was arrested in Baghdad in May and charged earlier this month with multiple counts of mishandling and leaking classified data,after a computer hacker turned him in. He will remain in confinement as the Army continues an investigation to determine whether he should face the military equivalent of a trial over the charges,said an Army statement on Thursday. Manning has not yet entered a plea,since there has not been a decision about whether he should face trial,Major Bryan Woods was quoted as saying.

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The leak of some 91,000 documents about the US-led war in Afghanistan is being described by experts as the biggest since the Pentagon Papers about Vietnam.

Manning,who had top-secret clearance as an intelligence analyst for the Army when he was stationed in Iraq,was charged in June with eight violations of the US Criminal Code for allegedly illegally transferring classified data.

On Wednesday,a Pentagon official said that Manning was believed to have accessed a worldwide military classified Internet and e-mail system to download documents.

The official said investigators believe Manning logged into a system called the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network,which provides military members who have appropriate security clearances access to classified e-mails and the militarys classified Internet system.

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Julian Assange,WikiLeaks founder,has declined to say where his whistle-blower website got 91,000 US documents about the war. About 76,000 of them were posted on the site on Sunday.

Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing,but the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family, Admiral Mike Mullen,Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff,said at a Pentagon news conference on Thursday.

Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said the massive leak could endanger troops and jeopardise US efforts. The battlefield consequences of the release of these documents are potentially severe and dangerous… and may well damage our relationships and reputation in that key part of the world, he said.

WikiLeaks responded to the remarks in a Twitter post on Friday: Gates,who killed thousands in Iraq,Afg and Iran-Contra says we might have blood on our hands.