I don’t really understand why we need a National Intelligence Estimate to tell us things like this; there’s nothing here that isn’t extremely obvious: Report: Al-Qaida May Use Iraqi Network to Hit Homeland.

WASHINGTON - The terrorist network Al-Qaida will likely leverage its contacts and capabilities in Iraq to mount an attack on U.S. soil, according to a new National Intelligence Estimate on threats to the United States.

The declassified key findings, released Tuesday, laid out a range of dangers — from al-Qaida to Lebanese Hezbollah to non-Muslim radical groups — that pose a “persistent and evolving threat” to the country over the next three years. As expected, however, the findings focus most of their attention on the gravest terror problem: Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

The report makes clear that al-Qaida in Iraq, which has not yet posed a direct threat to U.S. soil, could become a problem here.

“Of note,” the analysts said, “we assess that al-Qaida will probably seek to leverage the contacts and capabilities of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI), its most visible and capable affiliate and the only one known to have expressed a desire to attack the homeland.”

The analysts also found that al-Qaida’s association with its Iraqi affiliate helps the group to energize the broader Sunni Muslim extremist community, raise resources and recruit and indoctrinate operatives — “including for homeland attacks.”

Just as obvious and just as predictable, ABC’s Brian Ross calls on the services of Richard Clarke, who spins the report according to moonbat talking points: Experts: Unclassified Report ‘Pure Pablum,’ Hides Truth.

“Given that there was no al Qaeda in Iraq until we invaded there,” says Clarke, “it’s hard not to draw the conclusion that going to Iraq has created a further threat to the United States.”

UPDATE at 7/17/07 12:47:14 pm:

Primary documents are always good when the usual suspects are spinning like Iranian centrifuges. Here’s the unclassified part of the report in PDF form, all seven pages of it. (Hat tip: LawHawk.)