Security video released of Jordan attack on Green Berets
Family members had already seen footage of incident
Jordan’s military has released a video on the fatal attack last year on three U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers — including former Houston resident Staff Sgt. Jimmy Moriarty — while they were returning to their base in the southern part of the country.
The release Monday comes a week after a Jordanian military court found the soldier, Ma’arek Abu Tayeh, guilty of murder and sentenced him to life in prison.
According to the Associated Press, the video was released on the Facebook page for Hala Akhbar, a news site with links to Jordan’s military.
“This is exactly what I’ve been trying to get them to do for six months,” said James Moriarty, a Houston lawyer and father of Jimmy Moriarty.
The six-minute video had been shown earlier to family members by the FBI but had not been released to the public. Moriarty confirmed the newly released video was the one he watched.
Along with Moriarty, 27, the other slain Green Berets were Staff Sgt. Matthew C. Lewellen, 27, of Kirksville, Mo., and Staff Sgt. Kevin J. McEnroe, 30, of Tucson, Ariz.
A fourth soldier survived and was on hand last week for the sentencing of Abu Tayeh. They were assigned to the Army’s 5th Special Forces Group in Fort Campbell, Ky.
The Green Berets were killed Nov. 4, 2016, as their convoy approached the front gate at the King Faisal air base in al-Jafr. They were in Jordan as part of an ongoing mission to train Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State group.
Lewellen and McEnroe were the first to be confronted by Abu Tayeh. He was about five feet away when he opened fire on the
unsuspecting Americans. Lewellen was killed instantly, and McEnroe was mortally wounded.
In the video, Abu Tayeh can be seen stalking the remaining Green Berets — Moriarty and the soldier who survived. They waved their hands and yelled out in Arabic to no avail that they were not a threat.
Abu Tayeh pleaded not guilty in the trial and said he believed the base was under attack after hearing gunfire coming from the area where the Green Berets were. At first, Jordan’s government backed his account of what happened and only later acknowledged the Americans were blameless.
“This video shows objectively what happened and in what sequence it happened,” James Moriarty said. “Everything the Jordanians claimed about the murder of these three boys was a falsehood.”
Abu Tayeh began shooting at the Americans from a concrete guard house next to the gate.
James Moriarty was told that wasn’t Abu Tayeh’s assignment that day: He was supposed to be in charge of a heavily armed Quick Reaction Force nearby. Instead, he went to the guard house shortly before the American convoy arrived.
The video also shows Moriarty’s son gesturing toward nearby Jordanian soldiers.
“He’s been working with them every day for three months, but they do nothing,” he said. “Not a single one of them lifts a finger to protect the Americans.”
As painful as it is to watch the video that shows the last few minutes in his son’s life, James Moriarty said it’s important for other Americans to see it.
“They need to ask why we keep giving these people a billion and a half dollars a year to murder our children,” Moriarty said. “Why do we keep calling them our best friend in the Middle East?”
“(Americans) need to ask why we keep giving these people a billion and a half dollars a year to murder our children. Why do we keep calling them our best friend in the Middle East?” James Moriarty, father of slain Staff Sgt. Jimmy Moriarty