American soldier back from Iraq admits; We destroyed a country, a culture and any hope they have for a future."

A longtime friend, a career soldier, returned home from Iraq recently and said that, sadly, he is thinking of resigning his commission.

After a record of service that extends from Vietnam to Panama to Desert Storm and, finally, to the invasion of Iraq, he says the will to serve his country is gone.

"This country used to stand for things that meant something," he said. "Not now. Honor, justice, loyalty, pride: None of these words have any meaning now."

As we sat down for lunch, I noticed a change. My friend could always look you in the eye and argue passionately about the need to use military force to defend democracy. No longer. He couldn't make eye contact. He looked down mostly and spoke in hushed, apologetic tones.

"We've destroyed their country," he said of the Iraqis. "We've turned it into a hellhole."

He talked of thousands of Iraqis fleeing the country each day. No one is sure how many have fled but he estimates the number will be more than a million by the end of the year.

"The last estimate I saw was over 800,000 have left. Think of that. Eight hundred thousand people have abandoned their homeland because we turned it into a place that is too dangerous to live. We're not liberators. We're destroyers. We destroyed a country, a culture and any hope they have for a future."

Iraq, he said, is out-of-control. The civil war that many predicted is already here and it cannot be stopped by either American presence or propaganda, he said, and Iraqis blame Americans for what has happened to their country.

"As bad as the situation may have been under Saddam Hussein, we have made it worse. Iraqis had electricity under Saddam. They don't now. They could go to the grocery story without fear. They can't now."

He said it so much better and with more authority then I ever could have.