Flier from senator angers Muslims
By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff, 6/27/2003
enator Guy W. Glodis has angered Muslims and a civil rights group over a flier he sent to fellow senators that says terrorist attacks could be deterred if convicted Muslim extremists were buried with pig entrails.
The flier, which Glodis's 39 colleagues received Wednesday, said an execution of Muslim extremists in the Philippines was ordered by General John Joseph ''Black Jack'' Pershing before World War I, in which the terrorists were shot with bullets dipped in pigs' blood, then buried with ''pigs' blood, entrails, etc.'' According to the flier, contact with the blood and entrails of pigs ''instantly barred'' Muslims from paradise, dooming them to hell. It said news of the burial deterred other terrorist attacks for ''the next forty-two years.''
''Maybe it is time for this segment of history to repeat itself, maybe in Iraq,'' the flier concluded. ''The question is, where do we find another Black Jack Pershing?''
A Muslim group denounced the flier as ''slanderous garbage.'' Internet websites cast doubt on the authenticity of the killings as described in the flier, with at least one referring to the description as a fictional chain.
The Auburn Democrat would not say yesterday whether he agreed with the contents of the flier, which he circulated to his colleagues with a note that said ''thought this might be of interest to you.''
''I didn't write it,'' he said. ''I just passed it along to my colleagues. I often share news items of interest with my colleagues.''
The flier merely recounted historical fact, Glodis said, and should not have offended anyone.
''If some of my colleagues are so weak-kneed and politically correct and cannot accept historical fact, I suggest they lodge a formal complaint with the secretary of the Army,'' Glodis said.
But a national Muslim society took a different view and plans to call for Glodis's censure today.
''I am outraged and I am offended, and I think that the senator owes an apology to his Muslim constituents,'' said Raeed N. Tayeh, public affairs director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, in Washington, D.C. ''The inflammatory nature of passing this around and the recklessness with which he's done it -- he hasn't checked his history, and I think it's ludicrous.''
Islam does not teach that people would be barred from heaven by being buried with pigs, Tayeh said.
''It's a canard, it's a lie, a fable,'' he said. ''It is one of those urban legends that keeps getting passed on like a terrible chain letter. God admits people to heaven based on their actions. This is what Muslims believe.''
Tayeh said he would join local Muslims today to call on Senate President Robert E. Travaglini to censure Glodis. Travaglini's office did not return several calls requesting comment.
''This is just a sad commentary on the ignorance of people who are entrusted to represent Americans, that they would pass around such offensive, distasteful, and slanderous garbage to members of an esteemed body such as the Massachusetts Senate,'' Tayeh said.
A local civil rights leader concurred.
''It's deeply troubling,'' said Andrew Tarsy, civil rights director for the Anti-Defamation League's New England office. ''Discourse on difficult issues in this country requires a fundamental respect for human rights. Appeals to bigotry are not a part of the constructive discussion about the war on terrorism. His role is to lead a discussion, and that can be done without this kind of recklessness.''
Most of the senators called for comment on Glodis's mailing yesterday did not return calls, but two defended his First Amendment right to circulate it. ''I respect Guy. He is a friend, and this isn't something I would support or send out, but he has a right to do it,'' said Senate Minority Leader Brian P. Lees, an East Longmeadow Republican.
''If there was any indication that we would repeat something like that, I would never agree to anything like that, but he has a right to any opinion he wants,'' he said.
Senator Jarrett T. Barrios said he found the flier offensive, and threw it away.
''I get offensive things sent to me all the time,'' said the Cambridge Democrat.
''The First Amendment of the United States allows people to be eloquent in how they express themselves or to be troglodytes. It doesn't discriminate. Clearly, the senator is able to exercise his First Amendment rights and has chosen to do so. And I am free to throw it in the garbage.''
This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 6/27/2003.