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Fighting Islam's Fierce Moro Warriors (America's first jungle war)
Military History Magazine ^ | April 2002 | David S. Woolman

Posted on 05/24/2003 8:45:59 PM PDT by Sparta

America’s first war with suicidal Islamic warriors took place a century ago in the Philippines and rings familiar today as the Moros continue what they call ‘the longest, bloodiest struggle for freedom in history.’

By David S. Woolman for Military History Magazine

America’s first jungle war remains largely unknown, except in the Philippines where it began in 1900. Even those rare Americans who have heard of the U.S. jungle war against the Moros often connect it erroneously with the Philippine Insurrection. But with world attention now riveted upon Islamic jihad, we can expect to learn more about the volatile Islamic Moros, especially since they openly supported Afghanistan’s Taliban government and are an ongoing problem for the Philippine government.

Mutual revulsion between the Islamic Moros of the southern Philippines and the Western world goes back a long way. For more than two centuries before their defeat by U.S. forces at the end of the 1800s, Spain attempted unsuccessfully to subjugate the diminutive but fanatical Muslim Moros, who average slightly over 5 feet in height. Spanish soldiers had been captured by the Moros, dragged into the jungle and tortured for hours on end, finally dying in utter agony over a slow fire after being emasculated. Add to that the Moro practices of polygamy, slavery and rape of infidels, and it is easy to see why the American forces in 1898 saw Moros as horror and depravity incarnate.

(Excerpt) Read more at militaryhistory.about.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: memorialday; militaryhistory; moros; philippines; uprising; us
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To: Finalapproach29er
I laugh every time I read this urban legend. Anyone who thinks the Islamists would stop their terrorism because they fear being buried in pig meat is delusional.
21 posted on 05/25/2003 6:19:18 AM PDT by mikegi
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To: MarkDel
I think this subject is very worth more research using original sources. Our war against islamic terror may get to that level.
22 posted on 05/25/2003 8:40:10 AM PDT by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
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To: liberalnot

first jungle war not.

Then were did America fight its first jungle war at?

23 posted on 05/25/2003 9:21:41 AM PDT by Sparta
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To: Travis McGee

Do you know if the tales of Pershing burying Moros in swineskins as a lesson to the others is true, or apocryphal?

From what I've been able to learn, the stories are true.

24 posted on 05/25/2003 9:23:42 AM PDT by Sparta
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To: Centurion2000

Where they ultimately deployed the .45 ACP because the 38 special didn't have the punch to put the moros down.

You are correct. As for the origin of "to run amok", I don't know.

25 posted on 05/25/2003 9:24:57 AM PDT by Sparta
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To: Sparta
Where they ultimately deployed the .45 ACP because the 38 special didn't have the punch to put the moros down.

My grandfather fought in this insurretion. We also used a Dynamite gun according to him. It apparently threw a stick [sticks?] of dynamite out of a cannon by means of compressed air. [The navy at the time had a Dynamite Cruiser, the U.S.S. Vesuvius which had 3 cannons that were fixed in position - the ship had to be manouvered to point to the target before the guns could be fired. It wasn't very sccessful.]

As an aside, yellow fever killed 7 times the number of Americans that the Spanish amd Moros did.

26 posted on 05/25/2003 10:01:31 AM PDT by curmudgeonII
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To: Sparta
If you want on or off the Western Civlization Military History ping list, let me know.

I wouldn't mind being on it. Thank you.

27 posted on 05/25/2003 10:05:38 AM PDT by 68 grunt (3/1 India, 3rd, 0311, 68-69)
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To: Sparta
Then were did America fight its first jungle war at?

In 1814 we took a little trip, along with General Jackson, down the mighty Mississip,
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans and we met the bloody British near the town of New Orleans. ;^)

28 posted on 05/25/2003 10:11:29 AM PDT by 68 grunt (3/1 India, 3rd, 0311, 68-69)
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To: FreedomPoster
Sadly, I'm one of those to whom basic history was not taught. Someone please explain to me why we had U.S. troops in the Philippines in 1900.

I'll need to leave and check back later for any replies.

Thanks in advance.
29 posted on 05/25/2003 10:12:01 AM PDT by Jason_b (moo)
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To: Jason_b
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=us+philippine+moros&spell=1
30 posted on 05/25/2003 10:15:54 AM PDT by 68 grunt (3/1 India, 3rd, 0311, 68-69)
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To: Sparta
I was about to make a similar comment.

If you've ever read the book Benevolent Assimilation, it gives a pretty decent account of the Insurrection(s.)

Unfortunately, now I must wonder about distortions made by the author or rather the lack of context. I certainly don't remember reading anything about the barbaric habits of the Moros, only that they were Muslim. Sadly, Filipinos in general were called niggers by American troops and large internment camps rife with disease and malnutrition were built. It was sort of a Strategic Hamlet concept without the amenities.

I think there WAS a betrayal of the Aguinaldo Nationalists by the US. I think they'd probably have been amenable to a 5-10 year stewardship if the US had simply proposed that, instead of insisting on colonization. Though Americans were right to fight the Moros(anyone would be) that doesn't excuse their conduct in the rest of the archipelago.
31 posted on 05/25/2003 10:18:25 AM PDT by Skywalk
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To: Jason_b
We took the Phillipines from the Spanish in the Spanish-American War in 1898. Admiral Dewey sank the Spanish Pacific fleet in Manila Bay.

If we hadn't taken possession of this colony after taking out the Spanish, some other power would have. Realpolitik of the era and all that.
32 posted on 05/25/2003 10:23:14 AM PDT by FreedomPoster
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To: Sparta
vietnam.

ww2. americans fought the japs in jungles.

american armies have occupied various central american countries for centuries.
33 posted on 05/25/2003 10:52:18 AM PDT by liberalnot (what democrats fear the most is democracy .)
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To: Sparta; cardinal4
If I recall correctly, the word "amok" is a Tagalog word. It referes to a mythical creature, somewhat akin to the Yeti or Sasquach, who rampages through jungle villages in central Luzon, wreaking havoc. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
34 posted on 05/25/2003 11:05:31 AM PDT by Ax
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To: liberalnot
The Moro insurrection I'm talking about took place in the early 1900s. The first Central American intervention was in the 1920s.
35 posted on 05/25/2003 1:22:48 PM PDT by Sparta
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To: 68 grunt

In 1814 we took a little trip, along with General Jackson, down the mighty Mississip, We took a little bacon and we took a little beans and we met the bloody British near the town of New Orleans. ;^)

Although Louisiana has always been a Banana Republic, New Orleans only became a jungle in the late 20th Century.

36 posted on 05/25/2003 1:30:22 PM PDT by Sparta
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To: Sparta
cuba, 1898.
37 posted on 05/25/2003 3:10:58 PM PDT by liberalnot (what democrats fear the most is democracy .)
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To: 68 grunt; Sparta
Ever been to the South Carolina Low Country?

I'd say the Swamp Fox could have been called a jungle fighter, if the term had been in use.

38 posted on 05/25/2003 5:25:17 PM PDT by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
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To: FreedomPoster
When American cruisers entered Apra Harbor in Guam in 1898, word of the hostilities had not reached the Spanish governor.

They fired courtesy salutes, came ashore, exchanged pleasantries, swapped flags on the flag poles, and the Spanish went home.

39 posted on 05/25/2003 5:27:09 PM PDT by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
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To: Ax
According to Webster's III, "Malay amok furious attack, charge (as in mengamok he runs amok, pengamok one that runs amok)."
40 posted on 05/25/2003 5:43:48 PM PDT by dighton
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