No Mr. President, We Should Not Execute Terrorists With Pigs Blood Bullets

Prompted by the apparent terrorist attack in Barcelona today, President Trump in a pair of tweets pointed to a novel solution to Islamist extremism:

The United States condemns the terror attack in Barcelona, Spain, and will do whatever is necessary to help. Be tough & strong, we love you!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2017

Study what General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught. There was no more Radical Islamic Terror for 35 years!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2017

The President was apparently referring to a previous speech he’d made on the topic during the election, in which he claimed:

[Pershing] caught 50 terrorists who did tremendous damage … and he took the 50 terrorists and he took 50 men and dipped 50 bullets in pig’s blood. You heard about that? He took 50 bullets and dipped them in pig’s blood. And he has his men load up their rifles and he lined up the 50 people and they shot 49 of those people. And the 50th person, he said, you go back to your people and you tell them what happened.

Pershing, to the extent that he is remembered at all, is best known to Americans as the commander of U.S. forces in the first World War, and as the only person appointed as “General of the Armies of the United States”, a rank superior to a five-star general. Trump’s reference is to Pershing’s role as Governor of Moro Province in the Philippines from 1909-1913.

There are a number of variations on the story. Some suggest that instead the solution was to bury the executed men with a pigs carcass. Some U.S. commanders in the Philippines did try such things. But not John Pershing. Writing in his book Moroland: The History of Uncle Sam and the Moros 1899-1920, Robert Fulton recounts a letter sent by General J. Franklin Bell to Pershing on what to do about Moro attacks on American troops:

Of course there is nothing to be done, but I understand it has long been a custom to bury juramentados [i.e. Moro attackers] with pigs when they kill Americans. This I think is a good plan, for if anything will discourage the juramentado it is the prospect of going to hell instead of heaven. You can rely on me to stand by you in maintaining this custom. It is the only possible thing we can do to discourage crazy fanatics.

Pershing did not agree, and did not maintain the custom. What’s more, he knew it to be ineffective. Fulton again:

Before Pershing’s arrival and without seeking his approval, [Colonel West, a new arrival to the Philippines] made a public burial of the bodies of the three dead Moros, Rodney’s killer and the two juramentados, all placed beside dead pigs. Once again, most Moros shrugged their shoulders and thought Americans to be a strange and inscrutable race if they thought such a stunt would stop the deranged or dissuade religious fanatics.

Pershing’s actual approach to the violence would be familiar to anyone with knowledge of contemporary approaches to counterinsurgency. He worked to gain the respect of local councils, cooperated with them when possible, and demanded responsibility for any transgressions. His success, such as it was, had nothing to do with pigs. Of course, the violence didn’t actually stop. After Pershing departed the Philippines, incidents of Moro violence persisted. The eventual U.S. solution in Moro province was to end U.S. administration and withdraw with a pair of acts in 1914 and 1920.

And any American with even a passing familiarity of the recent history of the war on terrorism should be familiar with this. How did making a mockery of the Islamic faith work as a tactic at Abu Ghraib? Forcing suspected extremists to lie with dogs, pile on each other naked, or executing them with pigs blood bullets might have some kind of appeal to the ignorance of tough-talking naifs who want to cheer on war crimes, but it certainly did not act as some kind of deterrent in Iraq.

Finally, it’s important to remember that U.S. special forces are currently embedded with the Filipino Army fighting Moro rebels. Do today’s tweets help in those efforts? Does the President know about them? Does he care?

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