Veterans' advocacy groups say that the federal government has not done enough to  deal with an expected wave of returning Iraq war veterans with mental-health and related addiction problems, Fox News reported April 4.

"It's simple math: If there is an increase in demand, and there is not an equal increase in dollars to hire new people to buy more equipment or provide more services, the person who suffers is the returning veteran," said Steven Robinson, director of the National Gulf War Resource Center.

Recent military studies show that 35 percent of returning soldiers seek mental-health care, and 19 percent had a diagnosable mental illness like post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. The study from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research cites "challenges in ensuring that there are adequate resources to meet the mental-health needs of returning veterans."

Experts said that, if anything, the report underestimates the magnitude of mental-health problems that can be expected in the next group of returning Iraq vets, since the conflict has intensified greatly since the study period ended in 2004.

"[The study] is only marginally relevant to what condition our troops currently find themselves in," said I.L. Meagher, editor of PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within. "A lot has changed since that time, including ... an escalation in [improvised explosive device] attacks." Witnessing people wounded or killed is the biggest cause of later mental-health problems, researchers say, and the unpredictable nature of the Iraq war makes it particularly stressful.

"Because of the type of war it is, everybody is a target," said Iraq war veteran Rob Timmons, currently an outreach worker for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

The U.S. Veteran's Administration (VA) is prepared to deal with the problems, agency officials said. "The VA has been a leader in mental health of all sorts, particularly in PTSD. We are very attuned to our responsibility for the full breadth of service," said Michael Kussman, the VA's principal deputy undersecretary for health for the VA. Kussman noted that the Bush Administration's 2007 budget calls for an $8.8-billion increase for the VA, including $3.3 billion for mental-health care. "It's a precedent-setting budget that has increases more than any other (VA) budget in the past," Kussman said. "We believe we have the resources and are giving priority to these new veterans. We're encouraging them to come."

Critics, however, point to rising utilization of VA facilities and insist that the government is still underestimating future need for services, prompting Congress to add $1.5 billion in emergency health funding for VA last year. "Right there was an indication that the overall number of veterans coming back with needs were underestimated," said Peter Gaytan of the American Legion.