Breathing room: stepping back to move forward in Iraq.

• Author: Biden, Jr., Joseph R.

IN JULY, I made my seventh trip to Iraq. From military bases in Basra, Fallujah and Anbar province to Baghdad's Green Zone, I spent time with our diplomats and our generals, with Iraqi political leaders and with our troops. Even forty-eight hours on the ground, in a protective bubble, makes more vivid all that we have achieved--and all that we still must overcome.

In Iraq, we confront two parallel realities. Our military and civilians are doing extraordinary work, under the most difficult conditions--and they are getting results. For example, the Iraqi army is much more capable than it was just a year ago, thanks to an increasingly effective U.S.-led training effort.

But for all our achievements, the larger reality is this: Iraq--and the success of America's mission there--remains prisoner to terrible and growing sectarian violence. Sectarian violence has trumped the insurgency and foreign terrorists as the main security threat in Iraq. In December 2005, Iraqis voted by the millions, but 90 percent cast their ballots along sectarian lines. Far from a democratic turning point, the elections reflected Iraq's deepening fault-lines. Since then, ethnic militias increasingly have become the law in large parts of Iraq. They have infiltrated the official security forces, especially the police. Meanwhile, Iraqis have less electricity, clean water, sewage treatment and oil than before the war. Iraq's government ministries are barely functional. Iraq looks closer to a failing state than an emerging democracy.

Understandably, the voices calling for an immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq are getting louder. Most Americans want to see our military personnel leave Iraq as quickly as possible. But it matters profoundly what we leave behind. A precipitous withdrawal risks trading a dictator for chaos, including a failed state careening towards a civil war that could embroil the rest of the region. Unfortunately, President Bush does not have a strategy for victory in Iraq. His strategy is to prevent defeat. It is not enough to say our plan is to stand down as Iraqis stand up. What we need is a plan to get Iraqis to stand together.

TEN YEARS ago, Bosnia was drowning in ethnic cleansing and facing its demise as a unified state. After much hesitation, the United States stepped in with the Dayton Accords to keep the country whole by, ironically, separating it into ethnic federations. We even allowed Bosnians, Croats and Serbs to retain separate armies. With the help of U.S. troops and others, Bosnians have lived a decade in peace. Now, they are strengthening their common central government, and disbanding their separate armies. To be sure, it has been a fragile peace, but one that looks mighty appealing when compared with the carnage in Iraq.

In Bosnia, we navigated between two extremes: an ultra-realist approach of permanent partition and an idealist approach of immediately forcing people back together who needed some time apart. Instead, a pragmatic and progressive policy maintained Bosnia as a single country but gave each community breathing room and time to reconcile.

The Bush Administration, despite its profound strategic misjudgments, has a...