Muslim fighters are being told they may be justified in cannibalizing U. S. soldiers, it emerged Friday.</p>
<p>The chilling message is contained in a recent jihadist Internet entry that quotes from the work of a prominent jihadist ideologue, Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi.</p>
<p>In one section of his work, Maqdisi discusses the idea of having to do something that is otherwise forbidden, including eating food &amp;quot;sacrificed for an idol,&amp;quot; according to the Washington-based SITE Intelligence Group, which translates jihadist &amp;quot;chat&amp;quot; sites.</p>
<p>Maqdisi adds some scholars believe this has evolved to mean that Muslims, faced with hunger, are allowed to kill an enemy and &amp;quot;cannibalize him.&amp;quot;</p>
<p>In a bid to instil fear into American soldiers, the entry says U. S. should be told Muslim fighters &amp;quot;smack their lips to eat the flesh of . . . the eaters of hamburgers.&amp;quot;</p>
<p>But some jihadist respondents made light of the entry, which appeared on the al-Fallujah forum June 12.</p>
<p>&amp;quot;If we are forced to eat Americans, we will make them (into) kabsa,&amp;quot; said one posting, referring to a family of rice dishes served mainly in Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>Another jihadist said the &amp;quot;slaughter&amp;quot; of Americans must be carried out in accordance with Shariah law, and posted a picture of the beheading of Nick Berg, an American businessman murdered in Iraq in 2004 after he went there to seek telecommunications work.</p>
<p>The idea of cannibalizing American citizens also appeared on another website, the Ana Muslim forum.</p>
<p>But SITE Intelligence Group says its users tended to dismiss the citation as a &amp;quot;gross exaggeration&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;viewed the proponents of the argument as beastly.&amp;quot;