In 2007, Abizaid retired after 34 years of service.[1] As of 2007, Abizaid is employed as a fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.[2] He assumed the Distinguished Chair of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point in December 2007. Abizaid was appointed to the board of directors of RPM International on January 24, 2008, and also sits on the board of directors of the Defense Ventures Group.[3] In 2008, he was selected as a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College.[4]
On November 13, 2018, he was nominated as the United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.[5] He was confirmed by the United States Senate as ambassador on April 10, 2019, and sworn in on April 30, 2019.[6] Abizaid formally presented his credentials to King Salman on June 16, 2019.[7] He resigned on January 20, 2021.[8] He now serves as senior advisor at Albright Stonebridge Group.[9]
In his civilian studies, he earned a Master of Arts degree in Middle Eastern studies at Harvard University, and was an Olmsted Scholar at the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan. Abizaid greatly impressed his teachers at Harvard University. Nadav Safran, the director of the Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies kept Abizaid's 100-page paper on defense policy for Saudi Arabia, the only paper of a master's student he has kept, saying, "It was absolutely the best seminar paper I ever got in my 30-plus years at Harvard."[11]
On December 20, 2006, it was announced that Abizaid would step down from his position and retire in March 2007. He had planned to retire earlier, but stayed at the urging of Donald Rumsfeld.[13] On March 16, 2007, Abizaid transferred command to Admiral William J. Fallon, after serving longer as commander of U.S. Central Command than any of his predecessors.
On September 8, 2016, Abizaid was appointed advisor to Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak by Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.[14]
Abizaid is married[10] and has three children, including Christine Abizaid.[10] He learned Arabic in the military.[10]
Global War on Terrorism speech
In November 2005, Abizaid gave a speech on the Global War on Terrorism at the Naval War College.[17]
2006–2007 comments on Iraq
Abizaid and Tom Ridge speak with Pavel Tkachuk in 2016.
On August 3, 2006, Abizaid, in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the following about the situation on the ground in Iraq: "I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I've seen it, in Baghdad in particular, and that if not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move towards civil war." He also testified, "I'm optimistic that that slide [toward civil war] can be prevented".[18]
Bob Woodward on Abizaid and Murtha
Abizaid briefs the press on the findings of the Dover Port Mortuary Independent Review in the Pentagon in 2012.
In State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III (as excerpted in Newsweek magazine), Bob Woodward of The Washington Post wrote that on March 16, 2006, Abizaid was in Washington to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee. "He painted a careful but upbeat picture of the situation in Iraq." Subsequently, "he went over to see Congressman John Murtha (D-Pa), the 73-year old veteran Marine who had introduced a resolution the previous November calling for the redeployment of troops from Iraq as soon as practicable." Abizaid said he wanted to speak frankly, and "according to Murtha, Abizaid raised his hand for emphasis and held his thumb and forefinger a quarter of an inch from each other and said, "We're that far apart."
On October 1, 2006, an interview of Woodward by CBS reporter Mike Wallace was broadcast on the television show 60 Minutes. Wallace mentioned the Murtha-Abizaid conversation. Wallace asked Woodward to confirm that Murtha had told him of this tale of meeting with Abizaid; Woodward nodded his head in assent and said yes.[19]
Iran's nuclear program
In remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies reported on September 17, 2007, Abizaid stated, "We need to press the international community as hard as we possibly can, and the Iranians, to cease and desist on the development of a nuclear weapon and we should not preclude any option that we may have to deal with it." He also said, "I believe that we have the power to deter Iran, should it become nuclear."
"There are ways to live with a nuclear Iran," Abizaid said, "Let's face it, we lived with a nuclear Soviet Union, we've lived with a nuclear China, and we're living with (other) nuclear powers as well."[20]
Awards and decorations
Abizaid has been decorated for service, to include:[21][22][23]
^ abcdede la Garza, Paul (September 3, 2006). "In search of ground truth". St. Petersburg Times. Archived from the original on June 19, 2011. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
^Barnard, Anne; Swidey, Neil (March 27, 2003). "U.S. Commander's Background Considered a Strength in War with Iraq". The Boston Globe.
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