'Black Jack' flier a bust for Glodis: Muslim-Americans urge public reprimand of state senator

Neponset Valley Daily News ^ | June 28, 2003 | Michael Kunzelman

[Land_of_Lincoln_John]

BOSTON -- State Sen. Guy Glodis, D-Worcester, should be publicly reprimanded for circulating a flier that suggests the United States could prevent terrorist attacks by executing "Muslim extremists" with bullets covered in pig blood, a group of Muslim-Americans said yesterday.

The flier, which Glodis sent to Senate colleagues this week, purports to tell the story of how General John "Black Jack" Pershing captured and executed 50 terrorists while he was a military governor in the Philippines in the early 1900s.

Before they shot the terrorists, the soldiers supposedly slaughtered two pigs and soaked their bullets in pig blood. The ritual "horrified" the terrorists, who feared they would be "barred from paradise (and those virgins) and doomed to hell," the flier states.

"And for the next forty-two years, there was not a single Muslim extremist attack anywhere in the world," the flier reads. "Maybe it is time for this segment of history to repeat itself, maybe in Iraq? The question is, where do we find another Black Jack Pershing."

On Wednesday, Glodis forwarded copies of the flier to his Senate colleagues with a note reading, "Thought this might be of interest to you."

"By no means did I mean to offend anyone," Glodis said. "I thought it was a news item of interest for their input and comment."

But the flier not only offended many of Glodis' colleagues, it also outraged members of the Muslim American Society's Boston chapter and officials from the Anti-Defamation League.

Sadaf Kazmi, spokeswoman for the Muslim American Society chapter, urged Senate President Robert Travaglini to publicly censure Glodis.

"Such ignorance, recklessness and disrespect is something that our community has come to anticipate from right-wing bigots, but not from a Democratic state senator...who has been entrusted to represent and inform his people, not mislead and disgrace them," Kazmi said.

Kazmi, a Framingham resident, said the story told in the flier is fictitious, but has been "kept alive by bigots who wish to vilify and demonize Muslims and the Islamic faith."

State Sen. Susan Fargo, D-Lincoln, said she was stunned when she read the flier.

"My staff and I were astounded that something like that would come out of the senator's office," she said. "It does nothing to further our goals for peace and crossing bridges, and it does defame the Muslim faith, which is important to many people in my district."

During an interview with the News, Glodis stopped short of apologizing.

"By no means am I condoning or endorsing the actions or tactics of General Pershing," he said. "If the politically correct crowd is offended, maybe they should write a letter to the Secretary of Defense demanding an apology for General Pershing's tactics."

Later in the day, however, Travaglini said he spoke to Glodis, who "apologized for any misunderstanding regarding the e-mail he sent to members of the Senate."

"The senator says it was his intention to simply forward a news item that might foster dialogue among his colleagues," Travaglini said in a written statement. "He has offered his deepest regrets if this action has offended anyone."

Travaglini spokeswoman Ann Dufresne said she couldn't respond to the Muslim American Society's call for censure proceedings against Glodis.

"It hasn't even come up in our conversations with (Travaglini)," she added.

Many of Glodis' Senate colleagues said they were offended by the flier but didn't think Glodis deserved to be censured for it.

"My entire staff was upset about it," said Sen. Pamela Resor, D-Acton. "It is certainly not in line with my thinking at all, but I think we have to be careful about allowing freedom of speech."

Sen. David Magnani, D-Framingham, echoed Resor's sentiments.

"Guy has every right to send it and we have every right to throw it in the trash," Magnani said.

Sen. Cheryl Jacques, D-Needham, said she trusts Travaglini to respond appropriately.

"I thought it was offensive and served no purpose at all, but I'm going to defer to his leadership on that," Jacques said. "I have great confidence in Senate President Travaglini to thoroughly review the situation and take whatever action is appropriate."

In an open letter to Glodis, the Anti-Defamation League of New England urged Glodis to issue an apology on the floor of the Senate.

ADL director Robert Leikind said he found the flier "outrageous" and "extremely troubling."

"It says absolutely nothing of substance about fighting terrorism," he said. "There is no place for this kind of communication coming from our elected officials."

[dts32041]

Now if I understand this, this state senator was offering a little history lesson, much as Bobbie KKK Byrd offers from the well of the Senate.

These moselms are sure thing skin, where the blacks aren't.

[Vigilanteman]

Funny how the suggestion that executing murdering terrorists with bullets soaked in pig blood are offensive, but the calls of Islamist clerics for ever more murderous terrorists attacks are not.

[Jumper]

I think this would put an end to all the uprisings; could test the theory on Afarat and his henchmen holded up:) Just let one or two live to tell the horros of pig blood. Of course, the Camp X-Ray folks should be feed pork or starve as well.

[max_rpf]

What about capsules of Pigs blood mixed into the cement of every building built in the US going forward?

[Grut]

The flier...purports to tell the story...

Actually, it tells the story of what Pershing is purported to have done.

[abclily]

Well, it certainly got their attention. The military should use whatever weapon is the most efficient. If a little pig blood strikes holy terror into the Muslims, so much the better.

[gonzo]

We need more pig-blood!.............FRegards

[gonzo]

We need more pig-blood!.............FRegards

[gonzo]

We need more pig-blood!.............FRegards

[WSGilcrest]

[bagman]

This Pershing story has just been discussed on the H-WAR military history bulletin board, and its validity is in great doubt.

I make no claim to having special insights into Islamic theology (my grasp of Christian theolology is tenuous enough), but it seems to me that God (or Allah) is not going to condemn a soul based on the method by which the body is interred.

[lilylangtree]

I support this state senator. All islamic terrorists and murderers should be eliminated at every opportunity. Black Jack Pershing called it right.

[lilylangtree]

Something similar listed below might have been what he was circulating. I still support the idea--only good muslim extremist is a dead one.

General "Black Jack" Pershing was born September 13th, 1860 near Laclede,
> MS. He died July 15th, 1948 in Washington, D.C.
>
> Highlights of his life include:
>
> 1891 Professor of Military Science and Tactics University of Nebraska.
> 1898 Serves in the Spanish-American War.
> 1901 Awarded rank of Captain.
> 1906 Promoted to rank of Brigadier General.
> 1909 Military Governor of Moro Province, Philippines.
> 1916 Made Major General.
> 1919 Promoted to General of the Armies.
> 1920 Comes to many defense industries to thank them for their help in
> WWI.
> 1921 Appointed Chief of Staff.
> 1924 Retires from active duty. Educated at West Point.
>
> THE KEY:
>
> Just before World War I, there were a number of terrorist attacks on the
> United States forces in the Philippines by Muslim extremists. So General
> Pershing captured 50 terrorists and had them tied to posts for execution.
>
> He then had his men bring in two pigs and slaughter them in front of the,
> now horrified, terrorists. Muslims detest pork because they believe pigs
> are filthy animals. Some of them simply refuse to eat it, while others
> won't even touch pigs at all, nor any of their by-products. To them,
> eating or touching a pig, its meat, its blood, etc., is to be instantly
> barred from paradise (and those virgins) and doomed to hell.
>
> The soldiers then soaked their bullets in the pig's blood, and proceeded
to
> execute 49 of the terrorists by firing squad. The soldiers then dug a big
> hole, dumped in the terrorist's bodies and covered them in pig blood,
> entrails, etc.
>
> They let the 50th man go. And for the next forty-two years, there was not
> a single Muslim extremist attack anywhere in the world.

[DBrow]

"Such ignorance, recklessness and disrespect is something that our community has come to anticipate from right-wing bigots,"

Kazmi does not get out much. Offensive racist comments are far more likely to come from (D) than from (R).

The (R) comments get legs in the media, and the (D) comments do not.

In the article, there is no serious attempt to debunk the myth- just one flat statement that refutes it. Anyone know whether the story is true, or if there are alternate "truths"?

[Hugin]

The story I heard was that they were wrapped in pigskins and buried face down.

[DBrow]

but it seems to me that God (or Allah) is not going to condemn a
soul based on the method by which the body is interred.

I am not sure. There was a case not too long ago in which a funeral director was letting students from a tattoo school use his corpses to practice on, and some were Jewish, and when the families found out it was a great tragedy because a tattoo meant you would not get to heaven, something about defiling the body.

Also, some Christian faiths insist that the body be intact and not cremated to assure heavenly ascent. I worked as a backup EMT a while ago and severed fingers and so on were very important, so that bodies could be buried whole.

Also, remember Mohammed Atta's "last will", in which he described in great length the method to prepare his body, taken from the Koran and other similar texts? "Let no woman touch my body" and stuff like that.

It could be that post mortem preps are important.

Another thing- compare the Pershing story to Kipling's "King- of the Khyber Rifles". He has the British spread the rumor that the cartriges of his enemy (Muslims in the Afghanistan Khyber Pass, now Pakistan) were oiled with pig fat, so they were unwilling to tear open the paper cartriges with their teeth to load the muzzleloaders.

[exit82]

Susan Fargo worries that "this defames the Muslim faith"

Funny, I thought the killing of 3,000 innocewnt Americans on 9/11/01 by cowardly Wahabists defamed the Muslim faith pretty good.

And I'm still waiting for the denunciations of their actions from certain quarters of the Arab world.Any day now......

[Rollee]

What a brilliant idea! I like the pig blood bullet story, true or not. We should give it a try, at any rate.

[John Locke]

State Sen. Guy Glodis, D-Worcester, should be publicly reprimanded for circulating a flier that suggests the United States could prevent terrorist attacks by executing "Muslim extremists" with bullets covered in pig blood.

And I agree. Yes, the terrorist threat is a grave one, but that is no excuse for gratuitous cruelty to pigs.