That's what `git rebase --interactive` does (which has been described as being “a bit like git commit --amend hopped up on acid and holding a chainsaw–completely insane and quite dangerous but capable of exposing entirely new states of mind”[0])

The scenario described happens frequently when people `git push -f` a rebased tree, and it certainly does not go unnoticed by other developers on the project — more “havoc” than “subtle”.

[0]: http://2ndscale.com/rtomayko/2008/the-thing-about-git