U.S. Soldier poses with a hooded and terrified Iraqi prisoner.
This image was shot while on the advance through Iraq with U.S. forces. With hindsight this image should have been a warning to the mindset of some military personnel at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, where some of the most awful violations of human rights were committed.
The question that has haunted me is; am I just as culpable in the violation of this POW's human rights for taking this photograph? Would the soldier have posed if I had not have been there? Of course not. But would he have posed with the POW for a fellow soldier's camera? I think so. Should I have declined the offer of the photo opportunity? Should I have pointed out to the young soldier that this was not the way to behave towards captured enemy combatants?
War will always throw up a million moral questions,nearly all of which I cannot answer!