Click here to watch "Iraqi Freedom."

With attack ads from Planned Parenthood and the Alliance For Retired Americans still fresh, John McCain has taken a hit from a group representing one of his traditionally dependable voter blocs: veterans.

VoteVets.org is launching a nationwide ad, "Iraqi Freedom" (subscription), today that calls out the GOP candidate for not supporting a timetable to withdraw troops from Iraq. This ad comes on the heels of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s announcement that he favors a timetable similar to the one Barack Obama has advocated. Al-Maliki and Obama aren't the only ones pushing for a stricter timetable: A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows 60 percent of Americans favor one.

The ad opens with a drumbeat and Iraq war veteran Brandon Woods explaining what freedom means to him. "'Freedom' means that when the Iraqi people and their prime minister ask us to make a plan to leave, we do. But Senator McCain would occupy Iraq indefinitely, against their wishes," Woods says in the ad. "That’s not what freedom means. That’s not what we fought for." He concludes with a direct jab: "Senator, I thought you would know better."

VoteVets.org Chairman Jon Soltz said the ad is "absolutely" in response to al-Maliki's support for a stricter withdrawal timetable. Soltz said the debate about Iraq is "not about troops and tactics.... This is about strategy and diplomacy.” The national ad buy emphasizes the group's intent to target a broad swath of voters; Soltz said he hopes to keep al-Maliki's comments in the debate until November. He also cited a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg News poll from December 2007 that showed veterans' views on the war are in line with the rest of the country. While almost 60 percent of military families said they wanted troops home within a year, that majority jumps to nearly 70 percent when pollsters asked families who have sent someone to the Iraq conflict.

While the McCain camp declined to comment on the ad, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee turned it around on McCain's Democratic opponent. "Obama voted against funding for the very troops this ad claims to represent," spokesman Alex Conant said in an e-mail. "Rather than attacking John McCain for listening to General [David] Petraeus, this group should ask why Obama lacked the strength to stand up for our troops during a time of war.”

Veterans' take on McCain and the war, via third-party advertising, has been mixed. Vets For Freedom has spoken out against Obama and in favor of McCain, even though its ad doesn't explicitly name the Arizona senator. The AFL-CIO’s new veterans council, on the other hand, has a problem with McCain's voting record on veterans' benefits.

Pete Hegseth, chairman of Vets For Freedom, called the VoteVets.org's new spot "disingenuous." He said, "It implies that McCain in no way cares when troops come home from Iraq," which is entirely contrary to what McCain's initial plan called for. He also said the ad misconstrues what exactly al-Maliki said about a timetable and added that the prime minister retracted any implicit endorsement he gave Obama.

The VoteVets.org ad also coincides with McCain's speech today in Denver addressing the American GI Forum Convention, a largely Hispanic military group. In another bit of bad news for the senator, the group represented by his audience in Colorado today -- Hispanics -- overwhelmingly favors Obama, according to a new Pew Research Center poll.