On the March 8 edition of CNN's Your World Today, Michael Ware, a correspondent based in CNN's Baghdad bureau, asserted that “anyone trying to put artificial deadlines upon this conflict is only aiding the enemies, so-called, of America, Al Qaeda and Iran. ... [I]n terms of the broader strategic framework, it serves only America's enemies.” Ware also said that “what the Democrats are saying about timetables may as well be happening on the planet Pluto for all that it counts to the bloodshed and the endless combat” in Iraq. Anchor Jim Clancy responded: “Michael Ware, calling it like it is, laying it on the line.”

Ware was responding to a clip of Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-IL) saying, “It is time to spend the money to keep [the troops] safe and bring them home.” Schakowsky made her comments at a press conference in support of the Lee Amendment, which would require the "[f]unds appropriated" in a future supplemental spending bill to be spent on “the continued protection of members of the Armed Forces who are in Iraq participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Department of Defense contractor personnel who are in Iraq” and “the safe and complete withdrawal from Iraq of all members of the Armed Forces and contractor personnel ... not later than December 31, 2007.”

From the March 8 edition of CNN's Your World Today:

CLANCY: All right. Back on Capitol Hill, another battle is being fought over the future of U.S. troops in Iraq. And Michael, I want you just to hear -- this comes from an Illinois Democrat, a lawmaker up on Capitol Hill today, [Rep.] Janice Schakowsky [D-IL]. Listen to this.

[begin video clip]

SCHAKOWSKY: Four and a half years ago, the president asked Congress to give war a chance. And despite our objections, he got that chance and he blew it. No more chances, no more waivers, no phony certifications, no more spending billions of dollars to send our children into the meat grinder that is Iraq. It is time to spend the money to keep them safe and bring them home.

[end video clip]

CLANCY: All right. Strong words there from that Democratic lawmaker. At the same time, the Democrats are pressing for a deadline, be it at the end of nine -- 2007 or 2008, to bring all U.S. troops home. How is that going to affect General [David H.] Petraeus, the Iraqi government, and the Iraqis themselves?

WARE: Well, Jim, certainly in terms of the Iraqis and the war that's being fought in the streets and the deserts of this country, I mean, what's happening over there, what the Democrats are saying about timetables may as well be happening on the planet Pluto for all that it counts to the bloodshed and endless combat that we're seeing day-in, day-out. All that it does -- anyone setting timeframes like that without real preconditions, anyone trying to put artificial deadlines upon this conflict is only aiding the enemies, so-called, of America, Al Qaeda and Iran. It allows them some leverage to know when to put the pressure on, to know that the clock is ticking, and to know where the pressure points are.

So, in terms of the battle day-to-day here, General Petraeus isn't looking more forward than five or six months. He's trying to make this surge work. But in terms of the broader strategic framework, it serves only America's enemies -- Jim.

CLANCY: Michael Ware, calling it like it is, laying it on the line there from Baghdad, Iraq, tonight.