Trump resurrects tall tale about General Pershing and Muslims after Barcelona terror attack

[Machiavelli]

Caitlin Yilek
Washington Examiner
August 17, 2017

President Trump resurrected what historians believe is an urban legend about Gen. John Pershing executing dozens of Muslim prisoners with bullets dipped in pigs' blood, telling people to read up on the history after a terror attack in Barcelona, Spain, left more than a dozen people dead Thursday.

"Study what General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught. There was no more Radical Islamic Terror for 35 years!" Trump tweeted after he condemned the attack and told Spain to be "tough and strong."

More

Trump tweet

Politifact: Donald Trump retells Pants on Fire claim about Gen. Pershing ending terrorism for 35 years

TruthOrFiction.com: Unproven

Snopes: False

[Machiavelli]

Blackjack Pershing and the Moros: Or, How to Fight Islamic Insurgents

[Suppressed]

Trump needs to read up on history.

[Smokin Joe]

Blackjack Pershing and the Moros: Or, How to Fight Islamic Insurgents

Interesting article, thanks. It puts the lie to (or at least provides cause to question) what has been a popular urban legend.

[kevindavis007]

Interesting article, thanks. It puts the lie to (or at least provides cause to question) what has been a popular urban legend.

I suspect that a lot of people at the TOS would call Pershing a wimp.

[skeeter]

Caitlin Yilek
Washington Examiner
August 17, 2017
More

Trump tweet

Politifact: Donald Trump retells Pants on Fire claim about Gen. Pershing ending terrorism for 35 years

TruthOrFiction.com: Unproven

Snopes: False

Letters from soldiers who were there tell of sprinkling moro warrior bodies with pig blood and burying them with pig carcasses. Trump says nothing here about dipping bullets. He only errs in naming treatment of enemy dead as specifically a Pershing policy.

Not presidential (what else is new) but still a nothingburger.

[Victoria33]

I watched a film of him talking about this at a rally.  He said the soldiers dipped the bullets in blood from the stomach of a pig, and used those bullets to shoot the 49 terrorists dead, then gave the last bloody bullet to the one remaining and told him to take the bullet back and tell them that would happen to them.  Then, there were no more terrorists for 25 years.  In the past couple of days, he now says 35 years instead of 25.

[Right_in_Virginia]

I watched a film of him talking about this at a rally.  He said the soldiers dipped the bullets in blood from the stomach of a pig, and used those bullets to shoot the 49 terrorists dead, then gave the last bloody bullet to the one remaining and told him to take the bullet back and tell them that would happen to them.  Then, there were no more terrorists for 25 years.  In the past couple of days, he now says 35 years instead of 25.

 

[AllThatJazzZ]

Trump needs to read up on history.

Trump needs to read up on history.

[Smokin Joe]

I suspect that a lot of people at the TOS would call Pershing a wimp.

Funny thing about human nature. Everyone is geared up for a fight. When you let them swing at smoke, don't hesitate to take out the ones who really insist, but don't go actively trying to just wipe out everyone, well, the rest get to think about it. Pershing let the most aggressive spend themselves on the spear, but spared those less so. The rest is sort of a process of natural selection, although some of the aggressive ones survived to reinfect the rest, especially after memories faded of the elimination of the last batch of aggressive ones.

There is wisdom in his approach, yet it presumes people will learn something from history instead of ignore it.

[The_Reader_David]

Trump needs to read up on history.

Are you sure he hasn't?  Seeing that the NYTimes in 1903, Scientific American in 1904, and Pershing in his unfinished autobiography, notes for which are preserved in the Library of Congress and, thus, accessible to the public, all reported burying Muslims in a grave with a pig as an effective tactic against the Moro uprising, maybe it's Politifact, the latter-day NYTimes, and Snopes who need to read history -- from primary sources, not Howard Zinn and his ilk.

Trump himself didn't specify anything about dipping bullets in pig's blood, just advocated reading up on Pershing's counter-insurgency.

[Cripplecreek]

Interesting article, thanks. It puts the lie to (or at least provides cause to question) what has been a popular urban legend.

From what I've read the muslim aversion to pigs was never really much different from the Jewish prohibition against eating pork. It only became a big deal when muslims figured out that they could be a pain in the ass over it.

[Right_in_Virginia]

I suspect that a lot of people at the TOS would call Pershing a wimp.

Why do you care?