about how truth is perceived when the issue is really about honor - Jordanian honor.

Three recent events - the cold-blooded murder of three US Green Berets, the stabbing attack inside the Israeli diplomatic residence, the unprovoked fatal shooting attack launched on the Temple Mount by three members of the same clan - all triggered Jordanian responses that are worth trying to understand.

We are focused on the first of them now: the November 4, 2016 murder of three Green Berets at the entrance to the King Faisal Air Baseat al-Jafr in the desert of southern Jordan:

As one of the United States’ staunchest allies in the Middle East, the Jordanians and their military installations are no strangers to U.S. forces coming and going from their gates. Yet in the hoursand initial weeks after the attack, Jordanian officials painted a murky picture of what had happened. Immediately following the shootout, they indicated that the Americans had run the gate, failing to stop as instructed. When U.S. officials questioned that account, Jordanian authorities suggested there had been an accidental discharge in one of the Americans’ vehicles that led to the shootout. ["Five minutes and a gunfight for survival: An anatomy of the attack on U.S. Green Berets in Jordan", Washington Post, July 27, 2017]

The initial report carried by the New York Times downplayed the circumstances:

The Jordanian military said the trainers failed to stop as they approached a gate at the air base in the southern part of the country... A Jordanian military official, who declined to be identified discussing