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50 Years Of Washington’s Air Wars: Why They Always Fail
Submitted by Ivan Eland of The Independent Institute via Contra Corner blog,
Although President Obama insists that no American military “boots on the ground” will be used to degrade and defeat the radical Islamist group Islamic State (IS) - which is well funded and has captured much heavy military equipment from the Syrian military and U.S. trained and equipped Iraqi army and Kurdish peshmerga militias - that will make his objective much harder to obtain.
My recent book, The Failure of Counterinsurgency: Why Hearts and Minds Are Seldom Won, which summarizes the lessons learned from many historical wars against irregular armies such as IS, concludes that is almost impossible to win against guerrillas by only attacking from the air.
Some damage can be done to armored vehicles, fixed targets such as supply depots, etc. if the guerrillas have any (IS does). Eventually, however, insurgents will blend back into the general population, and airstrikes will simply generate more fighters as a result of the outrage caused by the spike in civilian casualties.
So if boots on the ground are needed to effectively fight IS and Obama and the American people - as a result of the Afghanistan and Iraq debacles - vehemently veto that idea, what is to be done? Surprisingly, the best option is for the U.S. government to do nothing.
IS is a threat to Iraq, Syria, and neighboring countries, but not a direct threat to the United States. But John McCain, his equally belligerent sidekick Lindsey Graham, and other hawks will scream about how naïve is the belief that IS will not eventually get around to attacking the United States.
Yet, unlike al-Qaeda, the group’s main purpose is not to attack the United States. Its primary objective is to do what it has already done - construct an Islamic State in the Sunni parts of Iraq and Syria, where it wins the support of many Sunnis as a result of oppressive Shi’ite governments.
So it is not obvious that IS would focus its attacks on the United States in the future, if the United States discontinues airstrikes. Besides, many of the easy IS targets have been hit, at least in Iraq, and such attacks may quickly become counterproductive as civilian casualties mount.
In fighting an insurgency, the main objective should be - and which most traditional military organization have trouble getting their arms around — is to win the “hearts and minds” of the local population, not kill them. Mao Zedong, one of the most effective guerrilla fighters in world history, noted that winning the support of the population is key to winning this kind of irregular warfare because the population is the sea that the guerrillas swim in.
Unlike regular warfare, in which both sides wear distinctive uniforms, guerrillas without uniforms attack and then just blend back into the local populace from which they receive sanctuary, supplies and fighters. Despite Mao’s later ruthlessness upon taking power, when fighting guerrilla-style to gain power, he cautioned his fighters to treat the people with respect and fairness.
When going into Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military initially failed to learn the lessons of Vietnam War and made many of the same mistakes all over again. Instead of trying to win hearts and minds using a less violent counterinsurgency strategy, it once again wailed away with excessive firepower, thus killing or alienating too many civilians.
However, that said, fighting guerrillas is difficult, because a foreign occupier never gets the benefit of the doubt when fighting locals - even brutal locals like the Afghan Taliban or IS. Also, foreign occupiers don’t know the culture as well as locals and therefore have much less intelligence about who supports the guerrillas and who doesn’t. Thus, for great powers, if they are using their own forces to fight guerrillas, they are much more likely to lose.
Thus, boots on the ground in the fight against insurgents should be local ones anyway. That said, the Iraqi army and Kurdish pesh merga militias have not done too well so far against the battle-hardened and well-equipped IS. Fortunately, neighboring Shi’ite Iran, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the other conservative Gulf Sunni monarchies have an incentive to train and equip Shi’ite militias (Iran), the Iraqi army, or the Kurdish militias.
Therefore, regional countries should be able to handle a regional threat, leaving the United States to worry about any future training camps in IS-controlled territory that might be training terrorists to attack the United States. (As noted previously, if the United States takes a less prominent role in attacking IS, the motivation of IS to attack U.S. territory will be much reduced.)
Only if such terrorist training camps are discovered should the U.S. launch low-key, but congressionally approved, drone attacks to wipe them out; such fixed infrastructure can be targeted effectively by such limited airstrikes.
If pressure builds for the United States to get more deeply involved in the fight against IS, perhaps Congress could approve private U.S. companies, staffed with ex-U.S. Special Forces, to conduct the training of Kurdish militias, the Iraqi army, or even Shi’ite militias using weapons provided by regional powers.
Avoiding the use of U.S. military personnel for training locals might avoid the danger of later U.S. escalation - as occurred during the Vietnam War. If President Obama says it will take three years to subdue IS, try 10 or 12 or 20 years. If they succeeded at all (which most didn’t), many of the counterinsurgency episodes my book surveyed took that long.
In sum, boots on the ground are needed to effectively fight IS. However, inserting U.S. military personnel for fighting or training locals likely would be counterproductive and would paint a big, red bulls-eye on the United States.
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...Anyone who bombs and blocks the Straight of Hormuz gonna f*ck up the World Oil Supply overnight....and make one certain country's Oil more valuable.
hint...Russia
Screw trying to win their hearts and minds. You win wars by destroying the enemy's will to fight. We have the ability to win. The question is whether our politicians have the will to win (I doubt it).
Forward (over the cliff)!
Gotcha. So you'll be picking up a rifle and heading over then eh Chief?
And who is this "we" you speak of?
While you may be all gung-ho about foreign intervention I have no desire to go back to Mesopotamia and no intention of paying for any operations there either.
Let's just leave and see what happens
Exactly. All this"hearts & minds" crap, and worrying about civilian casualties, is a loser strategy. Police actions and coalitions are for pussies.
Either fight to destroy the enemies will to continue, or, better yet, stay out of it and let them kill themselves. You can still make a bunch of money selling weapons to both sides.
Too bad then that Russia self-admitted peak in their crude production. The only way is down for them...
Which is worse, Obama or Californian government?
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Banzai7 - Hillarious!!!! Some great humor is always good for the soul.
Now about this article and the big picture. The Western senior leadership wanted China as the new reserve currency. Well, that happened. Part of the job is global policeman. China, get busy! What, the Dragon just thinks it can just peacefully trade and not police?!?!
As Americans, we're broke and the majority can't afforf to live and we are very war weary. Plus we got a police state at the end of our reserve currency tenure that has to go away or that trade will certainly sigificantly suffer.
As for the cover story of "IS" (what did Bill Clinton make that name up?) even lightly educated folks aren't buying the "IS" story. Like 300 dudes in beat up Toyotas trucks really stormed the large land-mass of Iraq and are totally conquering it.
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"Fail"? Depends on who you talk to. MIC loves 'em.
Duc888, Damn straight. I would also add that the Airstrikes on Sept. 11, 2001 were the most successful in U.S. history. Just look at the resulting removal of rights, liberties, resources, and privacies.
Exactly, they never Failed !
ITS all about killing brown people, and making more room for the chosen ones... its about making the bombed countries a mess, and so easier to control and exploit...
Fail? every bomb was a total success for the military complex, it generated revenue and investments for new technologies for KILLING MORE BROWN PEOPLE, and also to expand the empire and influence.
Every mother fucker shit hole they bombed, generated huge fortunes every way you look, from the corrupt military top brass, to other countries that wanted to become customers of the new gear, to the new resources frontiers, to the new Black Ops game of the season.
This is a culture and an economy based on war, a modern Sparta like, that trains their sons to be warriors from birth, that live with the only purpose to fight and conquer others for profit and population control.
That's why there is no more money for NASA to explore other planets, all the money now is channeled to WAR and killing their "enemies", women, children and any mother fucker in the way.
The statistics:
1st-WWI - Civilian casualties 10% - Military casualties 90%
2nd-WWII - Civilian casualties 50% - Military casualties 50%
Vietnam war - Civilian casualties 75% - Military casualties 25%
Iraq War - Civilian casualties 95% - Military casualties 5%
Folks are getting better in killing and spend many times more than ever before, and if you think they will end there, don't dream !! They can't wait to start WWIII !!!
USandA today spends more than 60% of its budge alone in war and in the military industrial complex, directly or indirectly, more than all the other major economy countries defense budgets... COMBINED !
ONLY the military black budged costs American tax payers today around $52.6 BILLION per tax year !!! perhaps more now.
Education 2% !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Transportation Infrastructure 3% !!!
So WTF this BS article is talking about, the indiscriminate bombing of brown people has been a COMPLETE SUCCESS, it just depends on which point of view you are talking about.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/black-budget/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/07/everything-ch...
http://www.globalresearch.ca/more-than-50-of-us-government-spending-goes...
so many fools thing the u.s. lost the vietnam war. it always amazes me .
really? the u.s. lost? no. the u.s. LEFT . the outcome for vietnam was 100% positive for the untied states when you look at the outcome for the u.s. civilian and military govenrment, which only got bigger and stronger after the war until now.
the crushing debt of the war was managed through the high interest rates of the 80s by volcker. and the state GREW in power as a result of the war. and the soviet union collapsed.
how again did we 'lose' vietnam?
Hello!! the dumbass calls it ISIL
It's just a cheap shot at Israel....most everyone else calls it ISIS.
I think they'll be called the ISA soon.
Many will simply continue to call them CIA.
ISIS eplained in 55 secomds: http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4508223/isis
Why is it surprising that the best approach is to do nothing?
Let me get this straight. The only way to defeat an enemy the US created, is with more destruction, effectively ensuring a never ending supply of "terrrrrrrrists" who will continue to loath the US for the destruction and lives ruined?
Sounds like a plan.
Stupid article. I like the Tylers but this article is crap. More propaganda that ISIS/ISIS whatever Langley calls it this week is a threat. It was created and run by the USA and their NEOcon/NWO buddies.
Yeah....it's just the neocons.
Back to sleep baby....it's a pretty big tent.....and I'm happy to say I'm not in it.
Did everyone get their invitations to the Grove this year?
Bingo. Not so "Confused"
Imagine when you were 9 years old. You have your whole life ahead of you and the only thing you are thinking about is what time school lets out so you can get home to play with your friends.
Finally the bell rings and you race off to enjoy a game of soccer with your pals. In a small field not far from your home, you are running down a missed shot on goal, when suddenly you hear the dreadful whine of an air raid siren. As you look up you see a shining blur in the sky, and seconds later an entire row of houses on your block is obliterated in a flash of light and heat.
An expanding wall of pressure knocks you down, and as you get back up you see your childhood home is engulfed in flames and dust. While trying to make your way towards the house, you remember your mom was preparing dinner in the kitchen as your baby sister was sleeping in the family room.
Sorrow and anger fills your young heart as tears roll down your face and your body trembles uncontrollably. At that tragic moment in your young life you swear vengeance on those responsible.
Troops on the ground are inevitable. PERIOD
And not much against Isis, but against Iran Quds. That is the main goal that Obama is objecting to, in my view. He wants Iran deal, Military categorically objects it.
Wait until they dig a couple forward observers out of the ground and drag their naked bodies through the streets, of course that won't be too graphic to plaster all over the airwaves and print media. Country singers will have all kinds of material to sing at the football half time shows. Next generation of cannon fodder will be lining up the fight for momo stocks Apple and Magog.
RE: "Country singers"
I'm here to put the dick in Dixie and the cunt back in country.
You are assuming that forward observers are a necessity. Last time I checked they had these things called drones that can see tanks and other heavy hardware just fine. It was the captured tanks that allowed ISIS to recently capture 21 villages so just by taking out their tanks you degrade the ability of ISIS to wage war against the Iraqis, Kurds, Turkomen etc.
Those sorts of air strikes will benefit the anti ISIS locals without committing any US troops and cost wise is effectively nothing if it is used for training and equipment evaluation (when was the last time the US got to blow up recent ex US military equipment?, because ISIS captured lots of it).
It isn't if killing a few hundred ISIS men will make them hate the West more than they do now, plus the locals (and American votors) won't be complaining that the US is helping ISIS by sitting on its hands and turning a blind eye to ISIS atrocities.
"Captured" tanks. Right.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't the official story over the last 13 years been "guys hiding in caves, they coudld be anywhere?" Strange how they are so organized, well funded and have a large following. You think the intelligence community would have spotted this one in its infancy.
If I didn't know any better, I'd almost think it was a state(s) sponsored organization.
"Captured."
The Terwrists should wear sponsor patches, like NASCAR drivers do.
Drones don't work and are a disaster without ground coordination.
They end up killing innocent civilians, kids etc
Drones Never worked and never will
if Israel and the Rothschilds/Rockefeller/Warburgs/etc. didn't exist today, global conflicts and wars would cease to exist!
the Zionist/Rothschild Federal Reserve has been financially supporting the CIA and Mossad into creating the fake war on terror campaign that continues to rage on to this day.
http://hendersonlefthook.wordpress.com/2014/09/20/illuminati-nazis-the-i...
My feelings exactly. I am so sick of it being America is doing this, America is doing that. NO! It's TFJ. TFJ. TFJ.
people never seem to comprehend the idea that wars throughout the world is nothing more than profiteering/racketeering for central banks. peace is the biggest threat for these guys who are pulling all the strings! always has been and always will be
I never tire of saying, anything connected to fiat creation is nothing more than profiteering & racketeering. Be it for war or welfare.
Welfare (for example) has an entire industry set up to support it as well.
From profiteering (subsidized) corporations dependent the regulatory bureaucracy to kill off its competitors, to kickbacks from .gov going to wall street banks getting a cut of the action with every EBT swipe.
The Free Shit Army marches on under all color of banners ;-)
Some damage can be done to armored vehicles, fixed targets such as supply depots, etc. if the guerrillas have any (IS does). Eventually, however, insurgents will blend back into the general population, and airstrikes will simply generate more fighters as a result of the outrage caused by the spike in civilian casualties.
Isn't it just perfect?...
Cause every bomb that gets dropped on the unsuspecting innocence down below will simply require more munitions to replace the ones that have already hit there targets.
Don't need to look any further than it's intended simplicity.
We're nothing more and nothing less than the World's bankrupt war machine, and we'll keep doing it until the threats from those that are the most capable in defending themseleves make it stop!
I disagree with doing nothing. ISIS should be attacked by eliminating their financial and weapons suppliers, especially the oil buyers. The US should impose financial sanctions on Turkey, the EU, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, work to overthrow their governments by funding and supplying internal terrorist groups, and if that doesn't work send boots on the ground to wipe out the suppliers. (I realize the US would likely be attacking itself also).
Yes the US would be droning Dee Cee and invading the Squidagon. Like a scorpion stinging itself.
The author of this paper is as stupid as Obummer. Degrading and defeating ISIS are 2 totally different things. The US can (and should) degrade ISIS by air strikes on their heavy arnaments (tanks, artillery) and their public victory convoys of captured hummers. That alone will blunt the ability of ISIS to confront and overwhelm other military forces in the area (be they Iraq army, Kurdish peshmergas or local militias). If ISIS cannot move the heavy equipment from one captured town to the next target without airstikes destroying it on the open road then that equipment is useless to them for any offensive purpose. Without new offensives ISIS will run out of freshly captured munitions (that has kept them well supplied these past few months). That will weaken them somewhat but more importantly it will allow their opponents time to regroup and plan counterstrikes.
Then let those local opponents of ISIS use their own boots to kick down doors, drag ISIS members out and behead them as payback. Totally local hearts and minds (and blood).
Ah, the good old "avoiding foreign entanglements" idea. Yeah, duh. So many of our problems would be smaller or non-existent if we would just follow the laws as written.
"...(IS) - which is well funded and has captured much heavy military equipment..."
Just say it. "Has RECEIVED military equipment from US sources."
"...is well funded..."? Those funds just dropped out of the sky, right?
An "air war using air craft" should be the title of this article.
We have had a "war of the airwaves" since the 1950's. And they're called "killer apps."
This article is so 1920.
"Great Britain and Russia got huge tracts of land when the 3rd Reich collapsed...but the USA got all the documentation."
Ironically the first thing US psychologists did when they captured Goring was to cure him of his drug habit. He lost seventy pounds too. Kinda weird after doin that they would execute him...
My bad..."sentenced him to death."
(they don't fail, they pretend to fail so to not reveal the real agenda)
that author is yet another brainwashed yankee team USA #1 supporter looking at war the way he would look at a baseball or football game.
"You let a Preacher get into Carbon Canyon?!!!!"
The drone story
Conducting “remote-controlled” wars
http://failedevolution.blogspot.gr/2014/09/the-drone-story.html
Bwhahahaha. "Kinetic weapons."
Of course all we'll end up with is boots in the mouth.
Activists hang a banner against Apple outside an Apple store during the launch of the iPhone 6 in HK on Friday.
https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/status/513545680494030848/photo/1
There's always always always blowback. There's no way there cannot be blowback. When you strike some target, even assuming you hit the target, there are innocents who die or are harmed directly or financially. Those innocents have family and relations who have now had their world shattered for no real reason. The ones who carried out the actions hand wave and refuse even an apology, your new US-approved government doesn't give a fuck about your plight and will even go after you for daring to raise your voice for fear it might harm relations with the regime keeping them in power.
So what's a guy to do? Hmm, let's see here... revenge sounds good. Boots on the ground fucking up your world? Boots from half the world away that do not give a shit if you live or die and can get away with war crimes? Sounds like that just leaves justice in your own hands.
Congrats, you are now a "terrorist". The local governments don't really feel like actually doing anything, as their regions are also full of sympathizers to your plight and they really want to not get overthrown.
What the actual solution to all this crap is: Leave them the fuck alone, don't go swatting at a hornet nest for fucks sake. They want to go on a campaign of blood and crazy? LET THEM. It's their own country. At most, if you actually give a fuck, help those in danger get out, and leave it at there. This Social Justice Warrior crap is just :facepalm: all day long. It's expensive, it's counterproductive, and in the end it makes the world worse for everyone involved.
Oh no, the Islamic State controls a giant chunk of land. Well, they are doing it with only a handful of fighters, and people seem content with it or they would be fighting back (not the Shi'ites from the south mind you). Oh no, they are executing people and hunting down and raiding people who they consider criminals...like any sovereign state does. If they want to build something according to their philosophy, fuck it, let em. Leave em alone and odds are they'll leave you alone too. Sanction them all you want. This "static world" mentality is just fucking retarded. Borders change, states fail and dissolve, regimes fall, people die, these are things that happen, stop trying to force people who hate each other into imaginary lines and demand they all get along with each other. It's not gonna happen. And when they decide they, in fact, are not happy together... DONT BOMB THEM, because now they have a common enemy... YOU.
I’ll never forget the field interview of an old woman in Afghanistan after 9/11. She was quite distraught over the fact that her house had just been bombed to rubble. When asked if she understood the reason was that the World Trade Center in America had been destroyed by Al-Qaeda, she replied: “I heard some tall buildings fell down, but, I never heard of America and I don’t know where it is”.
I bet she does now, and that’s not likely a good thing.
So, does the average Tibetan get along with their Han overloards?
This post and others before it do a pretty good job of pointing out how neighboring Muslim States would be the greatest beneficiaries if IS elimination. Many of them should want it as much or more than we do in western countries. So, why aren’t they doing the fighting instead of us? Because, they have done a better job of negotiating to get us to do it for them, playing us off against our own hypocrisy, prior false flag initiatives, and hidden motives in the Middle East, which everyone knows is mostly about energy. The fact that we get cornered into going to battle against IS in alliance with a group as feeble and fickle as the so-called moderate rebels in Syria is an open admission that we have already lost the political and economic battles and negotiations behind the scenes with even more powerful Muslim States.
I wonder if China or Russia have the military capabilities to combat IS on the ground.
If the US won't be the Saudi's standing army what the fuck reason would they have to keep the petro-dollar around? They might go shopping for new allies ...
Marco - It will become the petroyuan. Security arrangements shift with the reserve currency which is China.
Good article, completely wrong.
The bombing campaign is to support the CIA's and Israel's Muslim mercenaries on the ground in the effort against Assad--Greater Israel and their gas pipeline. I.e. they don't need or even want Pentagon boots on the ground, but need the air power.
The "boots on the ground" bullshit is A) a sheeple-distractor and B) a source of "we told you so" to use against the sheeple and Pentagon wing of power when the anti-Assad "rebels" overrun Assad.
An American, not US subject.
"It's not lies if it's all bullshit."
These wars are only meant to be continued, not won...What a riot, the Fascists won already...If they didn't we wouldn't be going after ISIS, a product of global intelligence.
The gospel according to retired Marine General Conway.
The same motherfucker that was so successful when he followed orders to destroy Baghdad twice in his career and left it in the state of unrest it is now in, will turn around for that other party and endorse an "air and ground campaign" that will work this time... No really... Honest -for the right price!
All of them cocksucker war mongering criminals that deserve to be hung from the highest trees!
Duty, Honor, Country is really Dues, Whoring, Corruption.
Siempre Filacio.
An American, not US subjkect.
Wouldn't it be way cheaper to just buy the oil?
It would be even cheaper to create a new group - lets call then the..... Jabba's
the Jabba's are barbaric, organized and photogenic - they carry a $1,000 HD video camera with a laptop and excellent photoshop editing tools, a camera man and grip for the field videos.
they will deliver on demand for the MSM - appropriate beheadings, mass killings, bombings and various military equipment in motion or blowing up
with scenerios - winning or losing - depending on the needs of DC
we can give maximum FEAR-based messages- for the sheeple or strategic meetings in real time anywhere in the world
we need recruits and will pay $500,000 for six months work plus a free IPhone - please send your resumes and photos - we need 1,000,000 man army for the new year.
"Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations - entangling alliances with none."
"It is our true intention to steer clear of entangling alliances with any portion of the foreign world."
Unfortunately, under the BushBombya regime, the elephant/jackass sock puppets in our one-party oligarchy seem to know better than the framers of the U.S. constitution.
The article was Neocon rubbish. Same old story, did the writer even acknowedge Washington's proven role in arming, funding and training radical Jihadists in a failed attempt to create a terror war against Syria? NO he did not. Why? It is a proven demonstrable fact that the USA still is arming, funding and training radical Islamic elements in a attempt to conquer Syria. Fuck, if this writter hasn't the guts to admit fact, then his amatuer little ditty about unconventional imperial warfare is a neocon circle jerk.
ISIS only exists because the USA created the conditions for it to exist. And went even further by arming, funding and training radical Islamic madmen. All the while hoping their tame Al-Qaeda would do in Assad and the Syrians. But Syria's Arab army kicked American Jihad's ass in the critical battles. Now McCain is spening 1/2 billion more dollars to double down on arming, funding and training radical Islamists to keep attacking Syria.
Sure, anyone as old as me who remembers Vietnam knows Air Power goes only so far. Obama's was on ISIS is good for business, defense industry, military contractors, and suppliers will earn great cost plus contracts. Share Holers will get returns. And the rest off us foot the bill! Ever think of that?
When you bust the pinata, you must get down there to pick up the candy.
Most productive place for boots????
On the ground????
Up Obama/AIPAC's ass???
Well bombinmg worked in Vietnam. Those B-52s paved the way for Saigon to occupy Hanoi
"Do Nothing" is what nearly ALL of our allies have chosen to do.
Who thinks bombing people and their children is a good idea? They do it for money. God help America if some day our "enemies" decide to bomb our children.
Here's what we shpould do:
-Tell the Arab States - hey dudes, ths is really your problem and if you don't want to solve it, fuck you.
-If you want we are happy to give advice and intelligence. Nothing more.
-Meanwhile we are focusing on providing aid and asistance to innocent women and children caught up in this mess.
Have a good time, guys. Buh bye.
It worked for Genghis Khan's air force .
Mongolian kamikazes were dead before they got into the air , and devastating at ground zero .
At Kaffa on the Crimea in 1345-1346 .
See http://www.historyinanhour.com/2011/08/05/the-siege-of-kaffa-and-the-bla...
Air strikes do work if you kill most of the population .
I've always been a big cheerleader for using drones. Those ragheads don't deserve an American to shoot at. Fuck them Muslim animals.
They should be able to remote pilot and operate an AC-130, creating a video game that no ground pounder may abide by.
The solution is trivially simple: there are NO civilians, kill them all using biological, chemical & nuclear weapons.
These air wars are also damn expensive!
In business, the 80-20 rule, also known as the "Pareto principle", the "principle of factor sparsity" and the "law of the vital few." It is used to help managers identify problems and determine which operating factors are most important and should receive the most attention based on an efficient use of resources. As a rule of thumb it that states that 80% of outcomes can be attributed to 20% of the causes for a given event. Resources should be allocated to addressing the input factors that have the most effect on a company's final results.
I often urge those working under me to make an effort to view the world through the 80-20 rule. It was explained to me years ago that most of a company's sales were generated from an important 20 percent of it's customers. From those customers often flow 80 percent of the profits. I have found that as a rule of thumb, while not always accurate, it is a reasonably good guide line and extends into other things. Bottom-line, if you want this to be effective you might be wise to conceed from the start you will need a light footprint on the ground. These should all be volunters. More details on the 80-20 rule in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/05/80-20-rule-makes-perfection-very-...