NYTimes: A Truthful Statement and a Half-Truth

Found in a book review:-

Britain created Jordan out of the largely barren and scantily inhabited land east of the Jordan River in the aftermath of the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. For its ruler the British chose Abdullah, the second son of the sharif of Mecca and their ally against the Ottomans, who became the first member of the Hashemite dynasty to rule Jordan.

Sometimes, the simple and plain facts slip out.

Jordan was never a "state". It was created, originally out of the land mass set to be the Jewish National Home that was termed the Mandate of Palestine. The Hashemites came from Saudi Arabia. Actually, they fled that country after losing to the Ibn Saud Family of Wahhabis.

Check out here.

And the half-truthful statement?

Here:-

In the brief civil war of 1970 between Hussein’s forces and the Palestinian fedayeen, he commanded 65,000 well-trained and well-equipped troops compared with 15,000 lightly armed Palestinian militiamen. The outcome of the conflict was never in doubt.

Yes, but how many Pals. did he kill?

One answer:

...During a bitterly fought ten-day civil war, primarily between the PLA and Jordan Arab Army, Syria sent about 200 tanks to aid the fedayeen. On September 17, however, Iraq began a rapid withdrawal of its 12,000-man force stationed near Az Zarqa. The United States Navy dispatched the Sixth Fleet to the eastern Mediterranean, and Israel undertook "precautionary military deployments" to aid Hussein, if necessary, against the guerrilla forces. Under attack from the Jordanian army and in response to outside pressures, the Syrian forces began to withdraw from Jordan on September 24, having lost more than half their armor in fighting with the Jordanians. The fedayeen found themselves on the defensive throughout Jordan and agreed on September 25 to a cease-fire...The civil war caused great material destruction in Jordan, and the number of fighters killed on all sides was estimated as high as 3,500. In spite of the September and October agreements, fighting continued, particularly in Amman, Irbid, and Jarash, where guerrilla forces had their main bases...The closing months of 1970 and the first six months of 1971 were marked by a series of broken agreements and by continued battles between the guerrilla forces and the Jordanian army, which continued its drive to oust the fedayeen from the populated areas...In response to rumors that the PLO was planning to form a government-in-exile, Hussein in early June directed Tal to "deal conclusively and without hesitation with the plotters who want to establish a separate Palestinian state and destroy the unity of the Jordanian and Palestinian people." On July 13, the Jordanian army undertook an offensive against fedayeen bases about fifty kilometers northwest of Amman in the Ajlun area--the fedayeen's last stronghold...