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Walker’s
Future
Holding him accountable.
By
NR Editors
From “The Week,” December 31, 2001,
issue, of National Review
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 hould
John Walker be tried by civilian courts, by military tribunals, or
by the Afghans whose country he helped to oppress? An argument can
be made that, by waging war on the United States, he has foresworn
his American citizenship, and should be left to the tender mercies
of Afghan justice. But if his primary loyalty was to al Qaeda, then
he should be treated as pirates once were — as an outlaw, worthy
of summary execution. Meanwhile, Walker is being tried in the court
of public opinion, conservatives fastening on his post-hippie Northern
California roots, liberals insisting that not every dim bulb named
after John Lennon wages war on the United States. Some traitors, from
Benedict Arnold to Robert Hanssen, betray their country out of greed;
others, like the Rosenbergs, out of conviction. Even as the Rosenbergs
were extreme but predictable products of Communist opinion, so Walker
is a grotesque but unsurprising product of his milieu. But more important
than any milieu are a man's nearest and dearest, and more important
than they is his own free will. Even as John Walker's parents bear
a particular responsibility for their ignorant and feckless raising
of their son, so he is responsible — and must pay — for
the life he chose. |
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