the subaltern speaks ! the 'other ' thinks and writes too.

"Can the subaltern speak" is the title of an essay by Gayratri Spivak .Fascinating title. Fascintating how it suddenly takes on a new context. The Egyptian 'subaltern'  was actually a Brig. General  when he wrote  his thesis.  He is  Chief of staff of the Egyptian Armed forces  now.  

I wonder if the US Armed forces top brass read the theses . Does't look like they took it seriously . Did it   just disappear into the memory hole most theses disappear into.???

Wouldn't it be nice if one of these guys had written, say, a 10,000 word essay on his views of the future of US strategy in the Middle East?

Well it turns out one of them — no less than Sedky Sobhy, the new Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, the number two in the hierarchy — did just that while studying in a military school in the US, as many Egyptian officers do. And he's written a rather thoughtful essay advocating for one of my pet causes: a complete US military withdrawal from the Middle East. It's titled "THE U.S. MILITARY PRESENCE INTHE MIDDLE EAST: ISSUES AND PROSPECTS" and was carried out as part of a Masters in Strategic Studies at the US Army War College in 2005, when he was Brigadier General. It's available on a US army website. 

On fundamentals of US strategy in the region:

The United States regional strategy inthe Middle East needs to be redefined since itcannot continue to simply revolve around the issues of national security for Israel and military security of the Middle Eastern oil supplies and reserves. This redefinition must include the direct constructive engagement of all actors inthe Middle East, and must be expanded to include non-state actors and groups. For example, the United States unwillingness to hold direct contacts and negotiations with the Palestinians in the 1960s and the 1970s - the Pale- stinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Yassir Arafat were viewed as "terrorists" by Washington - severely delayed the start of the Palestinian - Israeli peace process. Similarly, only recently we have seen a more significant turn in the policies of the Bush Administration policies vis-a-vis the indirect albeit important constructive engagement with the Islamic Republic of Iran while previous opportunities for direct negotiations have been lost.

http://www.arabist.net/blog/2012/8/13/what-do-egypts-new-top-generals-think-of-amreeka.html