NEW YORK (Map, News) - Robert H. Reid, a veteran foreign correspondent who has covered conflicts in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe over the past three decades, has been appointed bureau chief of The Associated Press in Iraq.

The appointment was announced Tuesday by John Daniszewski, AP Managing Editor for International News. Reid succeeds Steve Hurst, who recently became global political writer in Washington covering the presidential campaign for international audiences.

"Bob Reid has frequently served as acting chief editor in Baghdad, displaying a deep understanding of the country acquired from the very first days of the war in 2003," said Daniszewski. "He is an outstanding journalist, and as bureau chief he will lead one of the largest multimedia news bureaus in Iraq to new heights."

Reid, 61, who had held the title of correspondent at large based in Amman, Jordan, since 2005, has been integrally involved with launching and leading the AP's bureau in Baghdad, which houses AP international and Iraqi staff producing news in print, photos, television video and online.

Reid joined the AP in 1969 in Charlotte, N.C., and took military leave in 1970. After serving as an officer in the U.S. Army in Germany, he returned to the AP in Charlotte in 1973. He transferred to the international desk three years later, and received his first overseas posting in Bonn, West Germany, in 1977.

Since then, Reid's major postings have included chief of bureau in Cairo, Egypt, from 1982-1985; roving Middle East correspondent from 1985-1986; chief of bureau in Manila, Philippines, from 1986-1995; chief correspondent at the United Nations from 1995-1998; chief of bureau in Vienna, Austria, from 1998-2001; and European news editor based in Brussels in 2001.

In his nearly four decades with the AP, Reid has covered such major events as the Iranian revolution, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the birth of Solidarity, the civil war in Lebanon, the Iran-Iraq war, war in the Balkans, the U.S. overthrow of the Afghan Taliban in 2001 and the current war in Iraq.

Reid won the AP Gramling award for journalism excellence in 2005.

A native of Asheville, N.C., Reid graduated from Davidson College in 1969.