Question: Who was the Australian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the war codnamed Operation Desert Shield?
Context: The Australian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia is the Australian Government’s foremost diplomatic representative in Saudi Arabia.  Australia appointed its first ambassador to Saudi Arabia in 1974.  Initially the embassy was located in Jeddah, but it was moved in 1984 to Riyadh, to comply with a Saudi Government policy directive.  The Jeddah post remained open, as a Consulate-General. Charles Albert "Chuck" Horner (born October 19, 1936) is a retired USAF Four-Star General.  He was born in Davenport, Iowa and attended the University of Iowa, as part of the Air Force ROTC program.  On June 13, 1958, Horner was commissioned into the Air Force Reserve.  During the Vietnam War, he flew in combat as a Wild Weasel pilot and received the Silver Star.  During Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm, he commanded the American aerial forces, as well as those of the American allies.  During the Desert Shield phase of the conflict, Horner briefly served as Commander-in-Chief — Forward of U.S. Central Command; while General Schwarzkopf was still in the United States.  He currently serves on the board of directors for the US Institute of Peace. Nawal al-Hawsawi is a Saudi-Arabian pilot, and a female.  This is not common, if not almost impossible in Saudi Arabia, making Nawal al-Hawsawi a pioneer and a problem for the monarchy in the country.  She also has led the county's women in fights against racism and domestic violence.  She has been referred to as the "Rosa Parks of Saudi Arabia", due to her in dominatable spirit and desire to see women move forward in her country.  Al-Hawsawi, who originated from Mecca, married a white American male, breaking this common tradition of only marrying within her religion and her race, as well as marrying outside her culture.  .  She has a commercial pilot's license and is also a mental health counselor and marriage therapist.  These are not traditional fields for women in Saudi Arabia, and further the strain that al-Hawasai has felt from her relations with the monarchy in Saudi Arabia.  She founded the therapy provider Soundheart.org, which is not allowed to pass through filters on the internet with Saudi Arabia.  She has 50,000 followers on Twitter, and actively utilizes social media to strengthen her causes and beliefs.  She receives a lot of pejorative commentary on social media, but meets it with grace and strength.  The fact she is black and Saudi Arabian, also create issues for her in the western community, but she is not daunted by this.  She was verbally abused by a woman in Saudi, where verbal abuse is a crime.  She won her case in Saudi Arabia, but she dropped charges against the woman, who is now her friend.  She never identified herself as black until time spent in the United States, where she learned to fly and got her license.  She is not permitted to fly an aircraft in Saudi Arabia. The 14th Quartermaster Detachment, is a United States Army Reserve water purification unit stationed in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.  During Operation Desert Storm the Detachment lost 13 soldiers in an Iraqi Al Hussein ballistic missile attack on 25 February 1991 at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.  The 14th, which had been in Saudi Arabia only six days, suffered the greatest number of casualties of any allied unit during Operation Desert Storm.  Eighty-one percent of the unit's 69 soldiers had been killed or wounded. Saudi Arabia–Thailand relations (Arabic: العلاقات السعودية التايلاندية‎ ‎ ) refers to the current and historical relations between Saudi Arabia and Thailand.  Saudi Arabia has an embassy in Bangkok and Thailand has an embassy in Riyadh but representation is at the chargé d'affaires rather than ambassadorial level.  However Saudi Arabia and Thailand aim to restore the relations between their two nations.  Relations between the two countries were established in 1957 and hundreds of thousands of Thais went to Saudi Arabia to work.  The historically friendly and strategic partnership between Saudi Arabia and Thailand has deteriorated significantly following the Blue Diamond Affair.  Although regardless of relation status, Saudi Arabia and Thailand have high trade between two nations (further look in →Economic Relations).  Saudi Arabia and Thailand still work together diplomatically as the dispute is between the generals who overthrow the governments at most times.  In recent Saudi Arabia and Thailand have shown intent to repair the relations between the two kingdoms. Alexander J. "Alex" McGoldrick is an Australian author and a former public servant and diplomat.  He was Australian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1988 to 1991, during the Gulf War. The Gulf War (2 August 199028 February 1991), codenamed Operation Desert Shield (2 August 199017 January 1991) for operations leading to the buildup of troops and defence of Saudi Arabia and Operation Desert Storm (17 January 199128 February 1991) in its combat phase, was a war waged by coalition forces from 35 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait. Operation Desert Spring was part of an ongoing operation in Kuwait by the United States that was established on December 31, 1998, following Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Shield.  The mission objective is to maintain a forward presence and provide control and force protection over the military of Kuwait. Czechoslovakia sent a force of 200 to take part in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm as part of the Coalition of the Gulf War.  This operation was the sole military operation carried out by Czechoslovakia during the democratic period prior to its breakup.  It was also the first armed conflict Czechoslovak troops took part in since World War II.  The unit deployed to Saudi Arabia specialized in chemical defense and decontamination, a major concern in the Gulf War due to Saddam Hussein's use of mustard and nerve agents in the Iran–Iraq War.  Czechoslovakian forces were equipped with UAZ-469 all terrain vehicles equipped with chemical detection gear, Tatra T-815 transporters, and a variety of trucks designed for decontamination.  The two platoons were headed by Colonel Ján Való.  In the wake of the Gulf War, investigations were carried out by the Czech and Slovak government into claims of Gulf War Syndrome amongst returned veterans.  Czechoslovakian forces recorded the release of toxins such as sarin in Iraqi territory, that were attributed to as the causes of the syndrome. Beginning during Operation Desert Shield in August 1990, while preparing for the Gulf War, the United States sent a large troop contingent to Saudi Arabia.  After the war, remnant troops, primarily U.S. Air Force personnel, augmented by a smaller number of coordinating and training personnel from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps remained in Saudi Arabia under the aegis of Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA), as part of Operation Southern Watch (OSW).  The United Kingdom and France also maintained a small contingent of Royal Air Force and French Air Force training personnel.
Answer: Alexander J. "Alex" McGoldrick