Lots of smart people are already covering this (on-the-rocks, Dr. Rusty Shackleford) but I’ll put in my two cents worth.
Says Rusty:
Associated Press photographer Rahmatullah Naikzad was a witness to a Taliban murder. The two women were alleged to have been prostitutes who served Western clientèle.
A quick Yahoo News photo search of Rahmatullah Naikzad seems to indicate that he’s very friendly with the Taliban.
We would remind the AP that the act of the Taliban inviting a reporter to the murder means they wanted this news out there. The AP was clearly being used as a propaganda outlet for the Taliban.
Does this make him an accomplice or only a witness to the crime? When you know a crime is about to be committed, do you not have a moral and ethical obligation to try to prevent that crime? Even if you’re a journalist? Even if all you do is try to call the authorities, in this case someone in the Afghani government or NATO?
The sequence of photos Naikzad indicate that he was with this band of assassins the day/night before the murders, and was still there the following morning to witness the two women get their heads blown open with gunfire.
Not only was this photographer able to capture a few still pictures, but he also captured the event on digital film as well. You can hear at least one of the women screaming after the first shots are fired.
Says on-the-rocks:
The Taliban wanted publicity shots of the “event” and he gave them what they wanted. Way to pad your resume, dude. Anything for that paycheck, huh. Will you be traveling to Palestinian enclaves in Israel to follow the terrorists while they murder Israeli children?
You can claim you are outraged, you can claim you only wanted to show the violence against women, but in the end, they wanted the publicity and you gave it to them. You could have somehow lost the memory card, the video tape, the film (whatever media you chose), but then you might not have been paid or worse, not invited back for more.
Folks, there is evil in this world. And to do nothing in the face of evil makes you evil’s willing accomplice, and just as guilty.
Rahmatullah Naikzad, I invite you to come over to my house. I’ll serve you some wonderful southern pulled-pork BBQ. Then I’ll lock you in a room with my four large dogs. The next morning you should make great fertilizer for my garden.
Associated Press, Rahmatullah, Naikzad, Taliban
