I received this by email today. As with most things of this nature, I am wary of its validity:

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GENERAL “BLACK JACK” PERSHING

General “Black Jack” Pershing was born September 13th, 1860 near Laclede, MS. he died July 15th, 1948 in Washington, DC
Highlights of his life include:
1891 Professor of Military Science and Tactics University of Nebraska
1898 Serves in the Spanish-American War
1901 Awarded rank of Captain
1906 Promoted to rank of Brig. General
1909 Military Governor of Moro Province, Philippines
1916 Made Major General
1919 Promoted to General of the Armies
1921 Appointed Chief of Staff
1924 Retires from active duty Education West Point.

Just before World War I, there were a number of terrorist attacks on the United States forces in the Philippines by Muslim extremists. So General Pershing captured 50 terrorists and had them tied to posts for execution. He then had his men bring in two pigs and slaughter them in front of the, now horrified, terrorists. Muslims detest! pork because they believe pigs are filthy animals. Some of them simply refuse to eat it, while others won’t even touch pigs at all, nor any of their byproducts. To them, eating or touching a pig, its meat, its blood, etc., is to be instantly barred from paradise (and those virgins) and doomed to hell. The soldiers then soaked their bullets in the pigs blood, and proceeded to execute 49 of the terrorists by firing squad. The soldiers then dug a big hole, dumped in the terrorist’s bodies and covered them in pig blood, entrails, etc. They let the 50th man go. And for the next forty-two years, there was not a single Muslim extremist attack anywhere in the world. Maybe it is time for this segment of history to repeat itself, maybe in Iraq? The question is, where do we find another Black Jack Pershing?
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I think it’s interesting in that it points out 2 very different ideals. One, it needs to be made clear to these extremists that killing is never a way into paradise. Two, those of us at the receiving end of Muslim extremism should realize that buying into their beliefs merely validates those beliefs. Though this story would have you believe Pershing’s horrific treatment of his prisoners was the reason for so much peace, I think that if this event happened at all, it was merely coincidence.

I suspect World War I and World War II kept the world pretty busy for the 50 years after this supposed event. At any rate, stories like these, show the weaknesses of both “sides” of this conflict. Can any fight between a group based on religious beliefs and a group based on intellectual beliefs ever truly come to an end?