A corpse, skin now flaking, crackling ash from the flames that engulf it, lies rotting in a desecrated farmhouse.

Her body lies cold on the floor, exorcised of her femininity hours earlier. In the adjacent room, her mother, father and 6-year-old sister lie limp in pools of their own blood.

The ones who did this are far gone by now, having returned to their camp.

There, they brag to their comrades about how they murdered the enemy and defiled the 14-year-old girl. It’s an honor for them.

And there’s something else about these men. Something different.

These men don’t come from far-off countries. They are U.S. soldiers.

These killers belong to us.

Former U.S. Army Private First Class Steven Dale Green, Sergeant Paul E. Cortez, Specialist James P. Barker, Private First Class Jesse V. Spielman.

Green currently faces the possibility of the death penalty, which the Editorial Board cannot bring itself to endorse or condemn.

Despite this ethical stalemate, the particularly methodical, premeditated efficiency with which the brutal act was committed cannot be argued with.

Three years have passed since these men raped and murdered a young Iraqi girl and all but annihilated the rest of her family.

Three years since a house, a dress and soldier’s uniforms were stained by blood.