- Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recounts an urban myth about a US general killing Filipino Muslims using bullets dipped in pig’s blood
- Trump told the story to stress how the US needs to take a tougher stance against its enemies
- Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) Secretary General Renato Reyes says Trump must be condemned for his statements
SOUTH CAROLINA – Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump recently cited what appears to be an urban legend about a United States general who summarily executed Filipino Muslims using bullets dipped in pig’s blood.
Trump shared the story during a rally in North Charleston, South Carolina to stress his point that the United States should take a tougher stance against its enemies.
According to an article by Jeremy Diamond of CNN, the business tycoon-turned politician, reiterated that the U.S. should “go much further” than water-boarding suspected terrorists.
Trump told the story of General John Pershing in the Philippines who “summarily executed dozens of Muslim prisoners in the Philippines with tainted ammunition during a guerilla war against the occupying United States.”
According to the story as told by Trump, General Pershing captured 50 Muslim prisoners a century ago.
“He caught 50 terrorists who did tremendous damage and killed many people,” Trump said.
General Pershing then ordered his men to take 50 bullets and dip them in pig’s blood and load their rifles, according to the story.
“He lined up to 50 people and they shot 49 of those people and to the 50th person, he said, ‘You go back to your people. And you tell them what happened.’ For 25 years there wasn’t a problem. OK. Twenty-five years, there wasn’t a problem,” Trump said to cheers from the crowd.
The website Snopes has since debunked the story which has been circulating as early as 2001.
According to the myth-busting website General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing was indeed a Governor of the troublesome Moro Province between 1909 and 1913. However, references to this alleged incident in Pershing biographies have not been found. The alleged incident, moreover, does not match the way Pershing is generally recorded as having dealt with the Moros in 1911.
According to an article by Ben Jacobs of The Guardian, Pershing’s tenure administrating Mindanao was marked by his relative tolerance of Islam and his appointment of Muslims to serve under him as deputy district governors.
Renato Reyes, secretary general of activist group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), said on his Facebook account that Filipinos should condemn Trump for his statements.
“Donald Trump should be strongly condemned for endorsing US war crimes and atrocities during the US occupation of the Philippines. Even if the story he referred to is regarded as a myth– that of Gen. Pershing having dipped bullets in pig’s blood before shooting Muslims in Mindanao –Trump’s endorsement of summary executions as a deterrent to “terrorism” is despicable,” Reyes said.
“Around a million Filipinos died during the US occupation. Trump is sending the message that human rights violations and violations of international law are acceptable in the conduct of the “war on terror”. This is even more worrisome now that more US troops are headed for the Philippines under the EDCA, in what we see as a second US military occupation. A Trump presidency is indeed a dangerous proposition,” Reyes added.
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