The U.S. military is defending its decision to force two freelance journalists working in Afghanistan for the Associated Press to delete photos and video at the scene of a U.S. shooting last week. An Army spokesperson claimed that taking pictures could misrepresent what had happened in the incident. Col. Victor Petrenko said, “When untrained people take photographs or video, there is a very real risk that the images or videography will capture visual details that are not as they originally were.” The Associated Press disputed the assertions. AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll said, “In democratic societies, legitimate journalists are allowed to work without having their equipment seized and their images deleted.”