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Qaeda cut out in e-mail trail

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WASHINGTON — The State Department and CIA scrambled to downplay the deadly Benghazi attack by removing references to al Qaeda and previous incidents in the region from administration “talking points,” e-mails released yesterday by the White House revealed.

The exchanges show that the agencies made substantial changes to the talking points before they were delivered by UN Ambassador Susan Rice.

Rice went on five Sunday news shows in the days after the Sept. 11, 2012, Benghazi, Libya, raid and said the attack was inspired by Cairo protests.

“The line about ‘knowing’ there were extremists among the demonstrators will come back to haunt us at the podium,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland wrote. “How do we know, who were they etc. so I’ll need answers if we deploy that line.”

The e-mails show that initial references to the attackers being linked to al Qaeda were removed by the CIA. The agency also cut references to how the Libyan region was the site of several other attacks leading up to the assault.

Major changes also came from the State Department, which was concerned about blowback from the Benghazi incident.

In response to Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State David Adams wanted to remove references to the previous incidents.

The initial talking points noted that since April 2012, there had been at least five other attacks against foreign interests in Benghazi by unidentified assailants.

“I’m with [Vic]Toria,” Adams wrote. “The last bullet will read to members that we were repeatedly warned.”

One e-mail noted that “the State Department had major reservations with much or most of the document.”

The CIA also changed the word “attacks” to “demonstrations.”

One of the pages shows where CIA Deputy Director Mike Morrell scratched out most of the original talking points by hand. He also eliminated a reference to “indications that Islamic extremists participated in violent demonstrations.” Despite that redaction, the line actually ended up in the final version of the talking points.

Then-CIA Director David Petraeus objected to the final talking points that were used by the administration because they had eliminated much of the information that his agency initially proposed.

“Frankly, I’d just as soon not use this, then,” Petraeus wrote in response to Morell’s edits.

The White House released the e-mails in hopes of defending itself against Republican charges that it tried to hide the terrorist attack. The e-mails show an inter-agency process that focused on “providing the facts as we knew them,” the White House said.

Republicans, however, said the e-mails showed the administration downplayed the attack to shield President Obama during his re-election campaign.

E-mail shows original talking point said al Qaeda-tied extremists were involved.

Response questions whether US knows al Qaeda links participated.

Revision of talking point removes any reference to al Qaeda.