Democracy Now! talks to two parents of troops stationed near Iraq. They expected their children to return weeks ago, now all plans are off. And a pair of reporters discuss the changing mood at Fort Stewart Georgia where hundreds of military wives met recently with an official from Pentagon. The wives grew so angry that their husbands were not returning home soon that the official needed to be escorted out of the room.

In Iraq, three U.S. soldiers were wounded in two explosions today in Central Iraq. Meanwhile for the second time in less than a week U.S. troops came under a mortar attack north of Baghdad shortly before midnight.

The attacks comes days after President Bush taunted Iraqis by saying “Bring ’Em On” when asked by reporters if the U.S. could handle the increasing number of attacks.

This all comes as morale back home is reaching a new low.

The New York Times reports that in Fort Stewart, Georgia, a colonel recently had to be escorted out by security after meeting with 800 seething spouses, most of them wives.

One official at Fort Stewart told the Times, “They were crying, cussing, yelling and screaming for their men to come back.”

Meanwhile the Christian Science Monitor yesterday quoted letters written by soldiers to their elected representatives in Washington.

One read: “Most soldiers would empty their bank accounts just for a plane ticket home.”

Another read: “Make no mistake, the level of morale for most soldiers that I’ve seen has hit rock bottom.”

• Andrea Veras, son deployed in Persian Gulf.
• Guy Hallman, son deployed in Persian Gulf.
• Julian Borger, reporter for the Guardian, based in Washington DC.
• Patrick Donahue, editor of Coastal Courier.