Abizaid tipped as US ambassador

Washington – President Donald Trump on Tuesday tipped John Abizaid, a top US general from the Iraq war who has studied the Middle East for years, as ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Abizaid, 67, is a fluent Arabic speaker of Lebanese Christian descent who headed US Central Command during the Iraq war from shortly after the US invasion in 2003 through 2007.

He wrote his master’s thesis at Harvard University about Saudi Arabia. –