The AP reports:
Rep. John Murtha said Tuesday the situation in Afghanistan is so challenging that he estimated it would take 600,000 troops to fully squelch violence in the country. The Pennsylvania Democrat, who chairs the powerful subcommittee that funds the military, said his figure was based on the country's history of rigorous fighting and its size. "That's what I estimate it would take in a country that size to get it under control," Murtha said in an interview.
Murtha said that despite his estimate, he still opposes the 17,000 additional troops Obama just sent to Afghanistan, but one suspects that this is some effort to leverage additional pork for his district.