[tetrep]

Looking at the links of the photos from other commenters, is the gun actually pointed at man being given water? There's 3 US soldiers in frame, the one holding the guy and the one giving him water are both next to the guy, and the 3rd seems a few feet away, and could easily be holding his gun in a neutral position, pointed at the ground, giving a optical illusion similar to what tourists try to do with the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Edit: Looked at it a bit more, the non-water giving adjacent US soldier is not holding the guy (I think his hands are bound behind his back by cuffs/rope/zip ties/whatever).

[vonmoltke]

The man in question appears to be in an Iraqi army uniform, so is likely a POW. I also agree that the rifle muzzle is much closer to the photographer than the man, so much so that the focus is slightly off, and is being held in a neutral-but-ready position (which would make sense of covering POWs).

[jlarocco]

I wouldn't jump to either conclusion from just this one photograph.

Sharpness can drop off quickly outside the focal plane, depending on the aperture and other camera settings, so the gun barrel being blurry doesn't mean much. Whether it's 6 inches away from the POW or 6 feet away can be difficult to tell, and a photo could be staged to make either option plausible.