It's a telling commentary on the state of the Pulitzer Prize when the winner of best breaking news photo went to the AP for what, for all intents and purposes, was a staged photo op for terrorists. The AP all but admitted it as such - that their photographer was working with the terrorists when they were tipped off that something would happen on Haifa Street. They weren't just in the right place at the right time but actually told to be in the right place at the right time.
This wasn't a breaking news photograph. It was a breaking snuff film propaganda piece for terrorists in Iraq.
As bad as that situation is, the omission of Claudia Rosett's groundbreaking work on exposing UNSCAM is even worse. Here, Rosett uncovered mass graft and corruption at the UN, with problems running all the way to Kofi Annan, his son Kojo, and practically everyone else involved in the operation of the Oil for Food program. More than $21 billion was lost to corruption and graft. And that's just the tip of the iceberg when you consider that Iraq used that money to buy time, and perhaps much more, from member states to avoid enforcement demanded by 17 UN Security Council resolutions.
Rosett didn't even garner mention as a finalist.
Somehow, this itself should merit an investigation into what precisely the Pulitzer board sought to honor.
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