thebeave

While driving back from the mountains on Monday, I was listening to a talk radio station discussing Osama bin Laden, Islamic terrorists, etc. One caller called in with an interesting idea that made me chuckle at first, but got me thinking that there might be some merit to it. He said that the Koran states that if a Muslim is buried with a pig, he can never meet Allah (even if he was a "good" Muslim, apparantly). So, you could threaten all the fundamentalist Islamic terrorists by stating that if we capture you (dead or alive), we will kill you, if required, and bury you with a pig carcass. I think you will agree that these madmen don't seem to fear dying itself as they believe they are doing the right thing by Allah, and will meet him in paradise. One need only look at Sept. 11th to see that. However, if they believe they will die and not be with Allah, I would think they would be mortified and perhaps do anything to avoid death, including being cooperative.

Perhaps we could have a giant pig pen within site of the holding pens at Guantanamo Bay, and start spreading rumors there that their fellow captives are being killed and buried with pigs. You could have a guard pull a random prisoner from his cell, while another guard simultaneously pulls a pig from a holding pen all in plain site of the captives (of course, maybe all you are doing is transferring him to another part of the base). This might frighten them so much that they would start providing more info on their plans for terrorism.

All this, of course, assumes that the radio talk show caller had his facts straight about the Koran and burying Muslims with pigs. Can any of the Islam experts out there verify this bit of info? If its true, what do you think of this idea? Would it be considered too cruel?

I ate Pascal's Wafer

Hey, sounds like a plan to me!! If it's true I think it would work wonders.

I may be considered cruel since we are abusing the basic tenants of a religion we don't believe in. Then again, so what? We aren't going to hell for it, and if it keeps us safe in the mean time all the better. What the terrorists are doing to us is far more cruel than us using their holy book against them, so if threatening to bury them with pigs (or burying any terrorists we find dead with pigs) gets the job done, then my vote is that we do this.

-Nick

Jamie_L

A guy I know at work actually said the same thing a while back. Buy 'em with pigs.

The biggest complaints would probably come from PETA.

Jamie

Oxidizing Material

The Russians did the same to the Chechians who stormed the theatre.

MortalWombat

The problem with this idea is that it might give Muslim countries the idea that the US really is against Islam, and might actually cause more people to fight for the "just cause", especially if some high-ranking Muslim cleric gives some sort of edict that being buried with pigs won't prevent you from entering heaven.

simian

Reminds me of a battle from 1369 or 1389 (curse my non-photographic memory). Christian Serbs battled Albanian Muslims (and Turk Muslims, IIRC). The Muslims won, and left the bodies of the Christians to be eaten by carrion eaters or just rot away. The belief of the Christians at that time was that a physical body was necessary for the resurrection. By denying the Christians a burial, resurrection was denied. As I understand it, this battle and its aftermath (Christians deprived of "eternal life") was one of the justifications used for the genocide of the Kosovars by Melosovich(sp?).

Is it wise getting into a pissing match that may have consequences 600 years later (or more)? Yeah, I know the response is not rational. Religion, almost by definition, is not rational.

Simian

Biff the unclean

Does anyone else find the attitude that "we shouldn't do anything that might make them angry" strange?

I ate Pascal's Wafer

I do. I would have much preferred that we avoided whatever we did to cause this mess to begin with. However, now that we've opened up this can of worms we have to do what it takes to win and ensure our own safety. If manipulating their religion does it for us, then by all means we should do it. At this point we need to go for the win, not avoid things which might make them angry.

-Nick

Corwin

I think it's more a question of 'look... let's not piss off the ones who don't already hate us....'

Arrowman

I agree - except that as MortalWombat points out, it's probably not a good idea to reinforce their prejudice that the West hates Islam.

I would have no problem with the pig-burial idea - if I thought it would work. But I think it would be counter-productive.