Wolverine was pretty much a jackass whenever he appeared throughout this run. And yes, telling a bunch of scared, besieged kids that the new girl can kill them easily is pretty much the peak of dickishness.
Julian went through a pretty big arc of character development, from M-Day through the Nimrod and Mercury Falling arcs. One of the most developed characters in the book.
It's a shame that he's virtually disappeared, since. Hopefully Kyle and Yost will keep him in X-Force for a little while, it might make the book worth checking out.