Made in the Philippines: Psywar.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Michael L. Tan

THE FUROR in the United States set off by a state senator suggesting that corpses of Muslim terrorists be buried with pig entrails reminds us that many of the Americans' psywar tactics were developed in the Philippines.

Guy Glodis, a member of the Massachussetts state legislature, had suggested following the example of the American general John Pershing in his anti-Moro military campaigns in Jolo, back in 1913. Supposedly, Pershing buried Moros with pig's blood and entrails, as a stern warning to other Moros that they would suffer the same fate. The use of the pig was based on the Islamic prohibition on the consumption of pork, and the perception that the pig is an unclean animal. If true, the Pershing story would be an early example of American psywar tactics.

Strangely, while the Pershing story keeps cropping up, the reliable website www.snopes.com classifies it as another urban legend. The website notes that there is no historical record of Pershing ever having used this pork carcass gimmick. There is one account in a book entitled "Jungle Patrol," published in 1938, saying that a Colonel Alexander Rodgers had buried "all dead juramentados in a common grave with the carcasses of slaughtered pigs." "Juramentado" from the Spanish juramentar, to take an oath, referred to Muslims who would wage a personal jihad or holy war against Christians. Supposedly, Rodgers' tactic "resulted in the withdrawal of juramentados to sections not containing a Rodgers," prompting other officers to make similar moves. In one area a slain juramentado would be beheaded and the head sewn inside the carcass of a pig.

A book with a title "Jungle Patrol" suggests the accounts are probably sensationalized. Nevertheless, the stories do tell us how people look into the possibilities of using their enemies' culture to wage war.

While Pershing's psy-war tactics have never been confirmed, those of General Edward Lansdale are well documented. Lansdale believed in psyops or psychological operations and honed his skills here in the Philippines, where he served as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)'s chief operative in the early 1950s, working with the Philippine government's campaign against Huk rebels in Pampanga and other Central Luzon provinces.