***To read the full blog, please check out the complete post on NewsBusters***
On Monday, CBS correspondent Roxana Saberi used Iraqi President Barham Salih to shame the United States for the military response to threats posed by Iran against U.S. forces and interests in the region. Then, on Thursday’s CBS Evening News, she appeared to up the ante by passing along a threat of violence against the U.S. made by an Iraqi politician who was part of an Iranian-backed “militia”.
The threat was shared during a report about a rumor the Pentagon was working on a plan to deploy another 10,000 troops to the region. In leading into the report, fill-in anchor and chief White House correspondent Major Garrett noted that, “The President said he doubts it will come to that, and today a stark warning: ‘Do not do it’ -- came from the Middle East.”
Saberi reiterated how a “U.S. official says Iran and Iran-backed militias in Iraq are planning to target Americans” and recalled that those militias help in the fight to defeat ISIS when they stopped attacking Americans.
“Many Iraqis credit the militias with helping to defeat ISIS and with bringing peace to cities like Baghdad,” she warned. “But if this conflict spirals out of control, some of those fighters could go back to their earlier strategy and turn their guns on American troops here in Iraq. These streets would once again be a battle zone.”
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