Death and lies in the Middle East

Washington Examiner:

ordan rolled out false claims and gave shifting explanations after one of its soldiers killed three U.S. Green Beret trainers outside one of its bases in 2016, according to a new lawsuit brought by their families.

Fathers of the three slain soldiers who sued the kingdom this week say its handling of the deaths is reminiscent of Saudi Arabia’s changing explanations for the murder of Virginia resident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at one its consulates last month.

The lawsuit takes aim at key Middle East ally Jordan and its lucrative relationship with the U.S., which saw $1.7 billion in aid flow to the kingdom last year — another echo of the tens of billions of dollars in arms sales at the heart of the Khashoggi debate.

“For life to work, we all have to be willing to hold the powerful accountable, whoever the powerful are, for whatever they’ve done,” James Moriarty, father of the Army staff sergeant of the same name, said at the National Press Club on Friday. “The Jamal Khashoggi case is virtually identical to this because you have lie after lie after lie after lie where people refuse to accept responsibility for what they've done.”

Moriarty and the two other fathers, Chuck Lewellen and Brian McEnroe, are seeking monetary damages from Jordan as punishment for its behavior in the case, which drew international attention and sparked an investigation by the Pentagon that cleared the soldiers.

The shooter, Maarek al-Tawayha, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison last year.
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“The biggest problem that we've had throughout the ensuring two years has been the Jordanian response to this attack. It has been very akin to the switching stories that has happened with Saudi Arabia's treatment of the Jamal Khashoggi killing,” said John Eubanks, the attorney for the families of the U.S. troops.

Eubanks said the civil lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. is not seeking a particular dollar amount.

In 2016, Jordan first said al-Tawayha had obeyed the rules of engagement when he opened fire on the soldiers as they returned from nearby joint training. Officials from Jordan claimed Matthew Lewellen, Kevin McEnroe, and James Moriarty ignored direct orders from Jordanian troops before they were gunned down.

Jordanian officials then said the killing was accidental and suggested the U.S. troops had been drinking.

“For months, Jordan dodged responsibility. First they blamed our sons, the victims,” Lewellen said.
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Apparently, surveillance video is also a factor in both cases.  In both cases, it appears that imperfect allies were at fault.  In the case of Jordan, the liberals in the media have not been pushing a punishment that could break relations with the Kingdom they way they have in Saudi Arabia.  I suspect it is because they see the killing of a reporter as more personal than they do the killing of special forces troops.