Everybody knows about Jeremy Morlock — Oh, wait, George W. Bush is no longer President, so let me tell you about Jeremy Morlock. He confessed to murdering three Afghan civilians in 2009 and 2010. On Wednesday, Morlock was sentenced to 24 years in prison. Had this atrocity occurred under W.’s watch, you can be sure it would have received ’round the clock media condemnation. As it is, under the dispensation of the most transparent, post-partisan, post-racial administration in the history of man, the story was greeted with a shrug: as in the epigraph to Gerontion [oops, I meant Portrait of a Lady], that was another country and, besides, the wench is dead.
That’s one big difference to be observed. James Robbins, writing in The Washington Times, notes another:
Four more soldiers face murder charges, and an additional seven are being held for lesser crimes. Some say the actions of Morlock and other members of his so-called “kill team” stand as a moral indictment of the war effort, but they have it backward. The U.S. government recognizes wanton killing of civilians as a war crime and responds accordingly. Had Morlock been working for the jihadists, he would be hailed as a hero.
“Had Morlock been working for the jihadists, he would be hailed as a hero.” Surely not. Wantonly murdering civilians. Who would hail the perpetrators of so bestial a crime? Who indeed?
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