I can’t begin to imagine what the long term costs for Iraq War vets will be. Higher than any other war, to be sure. I’m not buying $127 billion. I think it will go way beyond that in the long run. Just another fucking mess Bush is going to leave behind. Another cost of this war no one speaks of.

Nov. 25, 2006 - Sgt. Brent Bretz has had 57 operations since he lost both legs in Iraq.

Bretz, 24, is getting care at Brook Army Medical in San Antonio, and expects to be discharged soon on 100 percent disability. But he will need still more surgery and is counting on the Veterans Administration to pay for it.

Advances in body armor and battlefield medicine mean soldiers are surviving injuries that would have killed them in past wars. Some will need lifetime care - which means the government is facing a massive bill.

According to recent research by Columbia University economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard economist Linda Bilmes caring for Iraq’s wounded will cost the government $127 billion.

“The costs that we see today are just the very, very tip of an enormous iceberg,” says Bilmes.

Read more at ABCNews