Fathers of slain soldiers attend trial
AMMAN, Jordan — Four more witnesses testified before a Jordanian military court Sunday in the fourth hearing of a Jordanian soldier charged with murder in the shooting of three U.S. military trainers.
The U.S. Army Green Berets were killed when their convoy came under fire at the gate of an air base in southern Jordan in November.
Jordan, a close U.S. military ally, initially said the Americans triggered the shooting by disobeying orders of Jordanian troops. Jordan later withdrew this claim and King Abdullah II exonerated the soldiers from any wrongdoing in a letter to the parents shown to The Associated Press.
Brian McEnroe and James Moriarty, fathers of two of the three slain soldiers, traveled to Amman to attend the hearing in a state security court with the alleged killer locked in a cage near the judge.
“It was a Father’s Day from hell,” said Moriarty, a 70-year old trial lawyer from Houston.
The families are outraged over Jordan’s initial claim that the three soldiers themselves triggered the November shooting. Jordan retracted the claim but maintains the Jordanian soldiers acted properly under “the rules of engagement.”
“It seems as though the Jordanian government just wanted to bury this,” McEnroe said. “For whatever reason they’ve dishonored our boys and they’ve done it for seven months and I want to see their honor restored. It’s all they have left.”
The American soldiers killed were Staff Sgts. James “Jimbo” F. Moriarty of Kerrville, Texas, Kevin J. McEnroe of Tucson, Arizona, and Matthew C. Lewellen of Kirksville, Missouri.