WASHINGTON • US President Donald Trump has tapped retired army general John Abizaid, who has studied the Middle East for years, as ambassador to Saudi Arabia amid growing friction between the longstanding allies.
Gen Abizaid is a fluent Arabic speaker of Lebanese Christian descent who headed United States Central Command - which covers the Middle East - during the Iraq war from shortly after the US invasion in 2003 to 2007.
The 67-year-old wrote his master's thesis at Harvard University about Saudi Arabia, studying how the kingdom makes its decisions on defence spending, in a paper that won acclaim in academic circles.
The California native graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point and later won a scholarship to study in Jordan, where he honed his Arabic, which he did not speak as a child.
Mr Trump has been slow in filling key posts amid his promises to shake up Washington. But the absence of an ambassador in Riyadh, nearly two years into his presidency, has become more glaring amid rising tensions between the countries.
Mr Trump, who quickly forged a close relationship with Saudi Arabia upon taking office, has been forced to criticise the kingdom and its powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after a team from the kingdom killed US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
The United States has also curbed cooperation and demanded a halt to the Saudi-led military campaign against rebels in Yemen that has contributed to a humanitarian crisis believed to be the worst in the world. But US pleas - made by telephone rather than in person by an ambassador - have failed to sway the Saudis.
Gen Abizaid requires confirmation from the Senate, which would appear likely as the retired four-star general has long enjoyed respect in Washington.
Shortly after taking over as US Central Command chief, he had told reporters that US forces were facing a "classical guerrilla-type campaign" from remnants of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.
His choice of words contradicted his bosses, who initially tried to portray the Iraq invasion as a quick victory, but Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld did not move to replace him amid admiration for his skills.
Soon after retiring in 2007, Gen Abizaid said that while the US should try to prevent Teheran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, "there are ways to live with a nuclear Iran", describing the clerical state's behaviour as rational and noting that the US also dealt with a nuclear-armed Soviet Union.
Mr Trump has championed a hard line on Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional rival.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
