Senator Biden
airs first campaign ads in Iowa

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden aired his first campaign advertisement Sunday, casting himself as the only candidate with a viable strategy for a sustainable peace in Iraq.

In the 30-second spot airing in Iowa, Biden describes how a soldier's remains accompanied him on the flight back after Biden's latest trip to Iraq.

''As I climbed into the C-130, strapped into the middle of that cargo bay was a flag-draped coffin,'' Biden says. ''It turned that cargo bay into a cathedral. And all I could think of was the parents waiting at the other end.

''We must end this war in a way that doesn't require us to send their grandchild back.''

''Joe Biden is the only candidate with a plan to get us out of Iraq and keep us out,'' the ad states as Biden's image fades.

The ad does not specify the plan, which calls for partitioning Iraq into three semiautonomous regions for Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis under a central government. A 60-second ad, which is scheduled to begin airing Wednesday, details Biden's Iraq strategy, stating: ''Only Biden would create the breathing room needed to stabilize the country.''

The ads, are scheduled to run through Labor Day, Biden aides said. Rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson also are airing ads in Iowa.

Biden got an added boost Sunday when ABC's George Stephanopoulos, the moderator of the latest Democratic debate, used a clip of the ad to introduce a question on Iraq.

Biden's son Beau, a judge advocate general in the Delaware National Guard and the state's attorney general, is preparing to deploy to Iraq next year. (Jim Kuhnhen, AP)