Exclusive: Channel 4 News reveals US Army hacker Bradley Manning, allegedly behind the WikiLeaks data leak, was a bullied schoolboy in Wales and set up a social networking site years before Facebook.
In a fascinating insight into Bradley Manning's teenage years in the quiet Welsh town of Haverfordwest, Channel 4 News has spoken with two of his schoolfriends who say that, even as a schoolboy, he had already determined he would "right a big wrong".
His friends' revelations suggest that some of the character traits which may have prompted the biggest-ever leaks of confidential information from the US government were in evidence during his time as a young teenager in Wales.
In the log of his online conversations with former hacker Adrian Lamo, who went on to tip off the FBI about the army private's claims, Manning describes how the behaviour of US forces made him "rethink the world" and how he wants people "to see the truth".
However, Manning has been driven from a young age by the need to right the injustices of the world. In an exclusive interview with Channel 4 News, Tom Dyer, a Welsh school friend of Manning, says he was not at all surprised when he learnt that the American was behind the leaks that have rocked the US administration.
"If something went wrong, he would speak up about it if he didn't agree with something. He would even have altercations with teachers if he thought something was not right."
Rowan John, another contemporary from Bradley Manning’s time at Tasker Milward school in Haverfordwest, concurs that he was an outspoken pupil. He told Channel 4 News: "He was opinionated but not forward on it. If he truly believed in something, he would give an opinion. That's probably because he was right in his opinion."
Tom Dyer stresses that Manning was not motivated to express his views out of personal malice. "He has his own sense of what is right or wrong. It’s not directed against another person in particular. He's certainly not malicious in any of his actions."
His friends' revelations suggest that some of the character traits which may have prompted the biggest-ever leaks of confidential information from the US government were in evidence during his time as a young teenager in Wales.
In the log of his online conversations with former hacker Adrian Lamo, who went on to tip off the FBI about the army private's claims, Manning describes how the behaviour of US forces made him "rethink the world" and how he wants people "to see the truth".
However, Manning has been driven from a young age by the need to right the injustices of the world. In an exclusive interview with Channel 4 News, Tom Dyer, a Welsh school friend of Manning, says he was not at all surprised when he learnt that the American was behind the leaks that have rocked the US administration.
"He's always had this sense that 'I'm going to right a big wrong'. He was like that at school," Mr Dyer says.He always had this sense that 'I'm going to right a big wrong'. He was like that at school. Tom Dyer, school friend of Bradley Manning
"If something went wrong, he would speak up about it if he didn't agree with something. He would even have altercations with teachers if he thought something was not right."
Rowan John, another contemporary from Bradley Manning’s time at Tasker Milward school in Haverfordwest, concurs that he was an outspoken pupil. He told Channel 4 News: "He was opinionated but not forward on it. If he truly believed in something, he would give an opinion. That's probably because he was right in his opinion."
Tom Dyer stresses that Manning was not motivated to express his views out of personal malice. "He has his own sense of what is right or wrong. It’s not directed against another person in particular. He's certainly not malicious in any of his actions."
