WASHINGTON &#8212 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s first campaign advertisement aired Sunday, casting him as the only candidate with a viable strategy for 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, but Biden has called for partitioning Iraq into three semiautonomous regions for Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis under a central government.

The ad, scheduled to run for three days, is a modest purchase of air time compared with those running for rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson.

But 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.