HANOI, Vietnam – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday the people of Iraq must face up to their differences and realize that they have no future except together.

The top U.S. diplomat, speaking to a gathering of world business leaders at an Asia-Pacific summit in Vietnam, said she was not downplaying the challenges Iraq faces. She reiterated Washington’s determination to support the “small seeds” of Iraqi democracy, but she said that success depends on the government and people of Iraq themselves.

It is up to Iraqis to “face up to their differences and realize that they only have one future, and that’s a future together,” Rice said. “They don’t have a future if they try and stay apart.”

Iraq is gripped by sectarian killings and terror campaigns that overshadow the anti-American insurgency and threaten to tip the country into full civil war. Its fragile democratic government has been unable to bridge sectarian differences even within the Cabinet.

At least 52 Iraqi deaths were reported nationwide Friday. Fifteen were killed by gun or mortar fire and 37 bodies were found dumped with multiple gunshot wounds, many showing signs of torture. The U.S. military also reported the death of one soldier who was killed Thursday in Diyala Province, northeast of Baghdad.

Rice’s remarks came in response to an American questioner who drew a parallel between “our recent misadventures in Iraq and the tragedy of the Vietnam War some 30 years ago.”

The Bush administration rejects any such comparison, but Rice said Iraq could learn something from Vietnam’s example. The country has thrived since making tough choices about its internal divisions and economy and is now Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing economy.

“The Iraqis, if they do make good decisions, like Vietnam has made good decisions, if they will take tough decisions,” and the world supports them, “they can and will have a better chance,” Rice said.