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From: clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis)
Newsgroups: net.nlang.india,net.nlang.africa,net.followup
Subject: Re: Terrorism and TWA 847
Message-ID: <1135@mnetor.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 3-Jul-85 13:14:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: mnetor.1135
Posted: Wed Jul  3 13:14:42 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 3-Jul-85 15:35:58 EDT
References: <600003@ur-univax.UUCP> <518@hou2g.UUCP> <3091@drutx.UUCP> <475@ihu1m.UUCP> <146@pyuxii.UUCP> <1949@ut-ngp.UTEXAS>
Reply-To: clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis)
Organization: Computer X (CANADA) Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Lines: 53
Xref: utcs net.nlang.india:498 net.nlang.africa:83 net.followup:4932
Summary: 

In article <1949@ut-ngp.UTEXAS> sunil@ut-ngp.UTEXAS (Sunil Trivedi) writes:
>From: tw8023@pyuxii.UUCP (T Wheeler) Message-ID: <146@pyuxii.UUCP>
>> ...					Study the Koran.  Tell them
>> that if they don't toe the line, we will spray the entire country
>> with pig's excrement, blood, and parts. ...
>> ...					You can't make it to heaven
>> tainted with pig's anything.  This method has been used before to
>> nullify the fanatisism of some of the Moslem groups.  The British
>> used it in India and in North Africa (WWII).  As long as the Moslem
>> fanatic believes he will not be allowed into paradise because he
>> is tainted with swine, his fervor vanishes.  This method precludes
>> the killing of innocent people plus, the problem for the truly
>> religious can be cleaned. ... 
>> This all may sound tounge-in-cheek, but it has worked in the past.
>
>Has anyone heard of this being used on the Muslim populations in
>India or North Africa?  Was anything similar ever used on the
>Hindus to control them whenever (if ever) they became 'rowdy'?
>
>					      Sunil Trivedi
>					    sunil@ut-ngp.ARPA
>					...!ut-sally!ut-ngp!sunil

Yeah, the British used it India (or, at least the Sepoy regiments
thought so).  See where it got them?  The 1847 (may have the wrong
date) Sepoy Rebellion.

This is how I remember it:

The British were introducing a new rifle cartridge to their troops
(both the Indian regiments and the British soldiers themselves) - they
were lubricated with some sort of grease.  You were supposed to bite
off the end before using it.  A rumor started claiming that the grease
was from pigs (I seem to remember that it was not animal-derived at
all).  But, for some reason the senior British officers (who the Sepoys
respected and would have believed) refused to deny this - they just
reiterated the order that the Sepoys HAD to use the cartridge,
regardless of their religious beliefs.  Next thing you knew, the Sepoy
regiments mutinied and the British had a real fight on their hands
(both from the civilian population AND the British trained native
regiments).  Hundreds (if not thousands) of both Indian and British
soldiers and civilians (many of the soldier's families) died over the
next year or so.

Senior British Officers can be phenomenally stupid opon occasion.
(Especially, as was frequently the case in "quiet" zones, when they were
in their 80's.  I heard the comment once:
	The British lose all of the battles, but always win the war
).
-- 
Chris Lewis,
UUCP: {allegra, linus, ihnp4}!utzoo!mnetor!clewis
BELL: (416)-475-8980 ext. 321