David Wood, SUN reporter (BaltimoreSun.com), has written an article dealing with expert opinion that more troops being sent to Iraq is not the answer, and references Bob Woodward’s new book, ‘State of Denial‘. From this article:

More troops not solution to Iraq crisis, experts say

Woodward’s new book stirs debate on Bush administration’s handling of war

By David Wood
Sun Reporter
Originally published October 1, 2006

WASHINGTON // Renewed allegations that the White House and Pentagon blundered by not deploying sufficient troops in Iraq to deal with the aftermath of the 2003 invasion swarmed around the administration this weekend, stirred by publication of Bob Woodward’s new book, State of Denial.

More than four years of combat in Iraq have left 2,711 Americans dead and 20,568 wounded. Today, with the 147,000 American troops deployed there apparently unable to stem a widening and increasingly bloody sectarian war, the issues raised in Woodward’s book are adding fuel to a bitter election-year debate about the Bush administration’s conduct of the war.

But while the debate swirls, some hard-eyed military officers and analysts assessing the situation in Iraq conclude that it would be difficult and costly to scrape up enough troops to raise levels in Iraq significantly and that even raising troop levels now might not work.

“We keep confusing troop levels with the fact that there was no plan for stability operations, no commitment in terms of aid, no understanding of the political challenges,” said Anthony H. Cordesman, who is senior strategist at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies and generally regarded as Washington’s senior independent analyst. “The critical mistake wasn’t one of troop levels, although I think if there had been a plan it would have called for significantly more troops and a longer troop presence.”

Full article here