Obama administration officials have been effusive in their praise for late Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz who died last week at the age of 90. Now comes word that chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin E. Dempsey is establishing a “research and essay competition” at the US military’s National Defense University to honor the long-time U.S. ally. DoD News reports:
Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said the essay competition is a fitting tribute to the life and leadership of the Saudi Arabian monarch…
“This is an important opportunity to honor the memory of the king, while also fostering scholarly research on the Arab-Muslim world, and I can think of no better home for such an initiative than NDU,” Dempsey said in a statement announcing the competition.
The competition will focus on issues related to the Arab-Muslim world and is designed to encourage strategic thinking and meaningful research on a crucial part of the world. The program will be in place at NDU for the next academic year, officials said.
Per its website, the National Defense Institute “supports the joint warfighter by providing rigorous Joint Professional Military Education to members of the U.S. Armed Forces and select others in order to develop leaders who have the ability to operate and creatively think in an unpredictable and complex world.”
Statements from President Obama, Vice President Biden, and Secretary of State John Kerry on the death of the king read in part as follows:
Over the years, I have come to know King Abdullah. I always appreciated his frankness, his sense of history, his pride in his efforts to move his country forward, and his steadfast belief in the U.S.-Saudi relationship.
Vice President Biden was originally scheduled to lead a delegation to Saudi Arabia to pay respects on behalf of the United States, but now CNN reports that President Obama will stop by on his way home from India on Tuesday instead.
