‘All plans have been canceled, forever’
Sisters seek justice for Green Beret killed in Jordan
Shortly before Thanksgiving 2016, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. James Moriarty was texting with his sisters about a trip he was looking forward to once his deployment was over.
Moriarty, 27, and his sister Rebecca, 34, were planning to go to Bogota, Colombia, to spend the holiday with 31-year-old Melissa Moriarty, their sibling who lived there.
“I was planning to surprise him at their airport with a mariachi band, a joyful and exciting welcome to a beautiful country that I used to call home,” Melissa Moriarty wrote.
James Moriarty never made it to the reunion with his sisters. The day after texting with them, he and two other American soldiers were fatally shot outside a Jordanian air base.
Their accused assailant, a Jordanian soldier named Ma’arek Abu Tayeh, is being tried in a military court in Jordan’s capital, Amman.
“Jimmy never made it to Colombia to visit me,” Melissa Moriarty wrote in a statement that will be entered in the trial. “We would not spend Thanksgiving together. Nor Christmas. Nor this birthday or any birthday or any future birthdays. All plans have been canceled, forever.”
Moriarty was raised in Houston and graduated in 2007 from Strake Jesuit. He enlisted in the Army soon after graduating from the University of
Texas at Austin.
The sisters’ impact statements, obtained by the Houston Chronicle, tell the story of two siblings devoted to their younger brother, who was killed Nov. 4, 2016 along with two other Green Berets: Staff Sgt. Matthew Lewellen, 27, and Staff Sgt. Kevin McEnroe, 30.
The three members of the Army’s 5th Special Forces Group from Fort Campbell, Ky., were in Jordan to train Syrian rebels. Abu Tayeh is accused of attacking their convoy at a checkpoint at King Faisal Air Base, located about 145 miles south of Amman.
In her letter to the military judge, Col. Mohammad Afeef, Rebecca Moriarty said the months since her brother’s death have been “pure hell.”
“I love my brother more than anyone else in this world. He was the most important person in my life,” she wrote. “Every day, I fight to even get out of bed but I do it for fear of losing my job if I don’t. The stress of the whole situation is almost unbearable.” Handling ‘shameful’
Both sisters and their father, Houston attorney James Moriarty, have been critical of the way they believe Jordan has handled the entire incident. At first, Jordan, an important U.S. ally in the battle against ISIS, accused the three Americans of accidentally firing off one of their weapons, causing Abu Tayeh to believe the base was under attack. Only later did Jordan acknowledge that its soldier was solely responsible.
The three Americans “were doing honorable work for your country and to so quickly be betrayed and to have Jordan immediately blame them for the incident without any investigation is shameful. The continued support in Jordan for the murderer is even more offensive,” Rebecca Moriarty wrote. Family saw video
Family members of the three slain Green Berets were able to watch a surveillance video of the shooting. Investigators concluded Abu Tayeh fired about 60 rounds with an M-16 rifle during the attack.
“His murderous actions are deliberate. His actions are aggressive. His actions demonstrate intent to kill for over five minutes during which time my brother waves his arms in the air, shouting in both English and Arabic, ‘We are Americans! We are friends!’ ” wrote Melissa Moriarty, who now lives in Houston.
The family said Staff Sgt. Moriarty spent the last six minutes of his life trying to defuse what he thought was a misunderstanding.
“My brother’s last words were ‘friend,’ ” Rebecca Moriarty wrote.
Abu Tayeh has been charged with murder. The military tribunal is scheduled to reconvene on Monday, and Rebecca Moriarty will be there. Melissa Moriarty said she and her father will be joining her the following weekend. A verdict is expected later this month.
“My brother’s last words were ‘friend.’ ” Rebecca Moriarty, sister of slain U.S. Army Staff Sgt. James Moriarty