The recent push by the White House to negotiate a pact with the government of Iraq concerning the long-term presence of U.S. service members in the country surprised many Americans but served as coda for Army logisticians. The fact is, the military continues to build and stockpile thousands of containers full of equipment in Iraq, despite the unresolved political infighting in Washington concerning whether U.S. troops will leave.

http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2008/04/3317383

Simply another case of the reality differing from what the politicians are saying.

If the US military were to withdraw from Iraq right now, the main drawback would be the time required to destroy the stockpiled materiel - since removing it from Iraq is an almost impossible logistical nightmare.

Of course that would be an absolute bonanza for American military equipment producers (which would mean thousands of new jobs for Americans) so it isn't quite the disaster it looks like.

Likely, we'd remove what we could; leave the rest behind: 50-100 yr hence, countries like Iraq, Afghanistan would remain our trash dumps. I'll never forget a Marine years ago telling me that during his tour in Afghanistan his platoon found comm. gear buried in the sand, from the Soviets-in-Afghanistan days, that was more sophisticated than what he & men were carrying. (Evidently, provided by the CIA for the mujaheddin.)

However, the Capt I think fails to get to the core of the logistical nightmare: 1) he didn't need to cite Clausewitz: we're in Iraq after 9/11 with or without Clausewitz; 2) material buildup not necessarily for prolonged war but for prolonged occupation.

The bases & airfields were going up almost before our guys reached Baghdad. If, however, the U.S. actually leaves Baghdad, little of logistics will accompany it: the civil war chaos of the sort that ran for 6+ yr after the Red Army departed Afghanistan will've begun before our guys reach the Turkey-Iraq border. The options are limited & unpleasant: long-term occupation (with occasional skirmishes & firefights) or withdrawal & chaos. & In both scenarios, we've produced a new enemy (the population of Iraq) lots more formidable than the scattered cells of al Qaeda.