(CNN)–Senator Joe Biden says his plan to divide Iraq into regional governments along sectarian lines is the best way forward for the country.
"This week, America found out what I have been saying for over a year is true. President Bush has no intention of ending this war in Iraq on his watch," Biden said.
"Too many people are saying we don't want to impose a political settlement on Iraq, but the fact is that a federal system, where the tribes and religious leaders can form their own states, is called for in their constitution," the Democratic presidential hopeful from Delaware said Saturday in a release from his campaign. "What they need is our help in bringing the international community and the neighboring states to the table to enforce their own laws. They can't do it themselves and our soldiers can't enforce them either."
"We must get our soldiers out of this civil war where they become justification for the Bush-fulfilling prophecy of Al-Qaeda in Iraq to flourish," he said. "We must legislate a new mission for our troops to secure the borders and focus on Al-Qaeda. That is the only way, short of a sea change among Republicans in Congress, to force the President to draw down troops this year.”
Biden added, "by pulling our troops out of Iraq we will be strengthening the U.S. military by allowing them to resume normal rotations and we will have the flexibility to focus on the real Al-Qaeda threat to the U.S. which is fomenting along the Afghan-Pakistan border where Osama bin Laden is still in hiding."
Biden's plan would maintain a unified country, but decentralizing it into three autonomous regions run by Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds respectively. A central government in Baghdad would handle issues such as border security and distribution of oil revenue.
Biden campaigned in Iowa on Saturday.
- CNN Political Desk Editor Jamie Crawford