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Easy answers
There's an email floating around regarding the American general John J. "Blackjack" Pershing, and his unique solution for dealing with Islamic terrorists. The story goes that he ruthlessly suppressed a Muslim insurrection in the Philipines around 1910 by executing the terrorists, then defiling their corpses with pig carcasses. Muslims, the email informs us, believe that pigs are unclean, and any Muslim who comes in contact with a pig or pig byproducts will not be allowed into Paradise. Then the author of the email tells us that after Pershing's demonstration of American will, there was not another Muslim terrorist act for 42 years. The email ends on a touching, plaintive note: "Where can we find another General Pershing?"
A quick check with snopes.com confirms that this apocryphal little story is not worth a bucket of pork rinds. The author assumes that all terrorists commiting murder in the name of Allah are devout Muslims, when just the opposite is true. And even if a Shahid was contemplating mass murder, but was reluctant to have his casket lined with pork chops, a simple fatwa from the local imam, declaring that the bodies of martyrs are so pure that they needn't even be washed before burial, would vanquish any porcine worries.
It is natural for humans to seek simple solutions to complex problems. It's also lucrative, as evidenced by the miracle weight loss plans and get rich quick schemes that populate the net. But simple solutions can also be counterproductive, especially when they are embraced by policy makers and authority figures. The recent outrages at Abu Ghraib prison were also born of a desire for easy answers. Muslim men, the reasoning went, are easily shamed. So let's stack 'em up like cordwood. Naked! That'll send the message that Americans are here to help.
In a pig's eye.
New Terror Warning
Holy Ashcroft, Batman!
8.6.04 16:52