WASHINGTON (AP) — Ex-CIA Director David Petraeus has told Congress that references to militant groups Ansar al-Shariah and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb were removed from the agency’s draft talking points of what sparked the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya.
A congressional staffer says Petraeus testified in a closed-door hearing Friday that the CIA’s talking points did name those groups.
Petraeus told lawmakers he wasn’t sure which agency replaced the groups’ names with the word “extremist” in the final draft. But he said he allowed other agencies to alter the talking points as they saw fit without asking for final review, to get them out quickly.
The staffer wasn’t authorized to discuss the hearing publicly and described Petraeus’ testimony to The Associated Press on a condition of anonymity.
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