Quote Originally Posted by Major Strickland
While I understand the significance of cultural intelligence, maybe I am missing something. How many acts of unnecessary force or cultural insensitivity have we had in the Marine Corps that were the product of cultural ignorance? How many times have we created grievances or attacks based off our cultural ignorance? When this happens, is it the product of cultural ignorance, or is it the product of poor leadership or lack of discipline by mentally and physically fatigued forces? I am not aware of this being the monster problem that others imagine.
Hey sir. I am not sure if it is a product of Marines being more culturally sensitive or if the Marines have had fewer problems because they are unapologetic about it. I am reminded of the Marine General who made comments about "its fun to shoot people" and making comments about guys who "slap women around and make them wear veils and how its fun to shoot them." In response to these comments, Rumsfeld brushed aside the comments with something like "he's a Marine, thats what they do." By being fairly unapologetic about the comments, it became a non-issue.

Personally, I think the Marines are just as culturally ignorant as the majority of DoD, but they refuse to apologize for it. Its hard to write stories and get everyone in the U.S. worked up if you close the dialogue before it gets a chance to get started. In my experience, it is the Marines that are the most gung-ho about putting toe tags on bad guys (a flawed strategy in COIN), but they get away with it because of their history and culture they have built around themselves.

That being said, perhaps that is the best way to approach COIN in the future. If you look back in history, few successful COIN campaigns were won by being "culturally sensitive." Most were won through the strict implementation of violence (in some cases) and brutality towards a population (like you noted in Malaya). It is worth considering the Marines as a great unit to conduct ops like this in the future simply because of the culture and stigma they bring with them. It now becomes a problem of dealing with instantaneous media and international perception.