Ex-US Secretary of State Powell dies of COVID-19
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Colin Powell, the first black secretary of state who saw his legacy tarnished when he made the case for war in Iraq in 2003, has died from complications from COVID-19. He was 84.
鈥淲e have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American,鈥 the family said in a statement posted to social media yesterday.
The retired four-star general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who served four presidents made his reputation as a man of honor distant from the political fray 鈥 an asset in the corridors of power.
After the 1991 Gulf War he was so widely respected that he was even touted as a future president of the United States, but ultimately he never ran for the White House.
鈥淕eneral Powell is an American hero, an American example, and a great American story,鈥 George W. Bush said as he announced the nomination of Powell, the son of Jamaican immigrants, who became the Republican president鈥檚 secretary of state in 2000.
鈥淚n directness of speech, his towering integrity, his deep respect for our democracy, and his soldier鈥檚 sense of duty and honor, Colin Powell demonstrates ... qualities that will make him a great representative of all the people of this country.鈥
But he found it hard to live down his infamous February 2003 speech to the United Nations Security Council about the alleged existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq 鈥 evidence which was later proven to be false.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a blot ... and will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It鈥檚 painful now,鈥 Powell said in a 2005 interview with ABC News.
Tributes nevertheless poured in from Congress, where Democratic Senator Mark Warner praised Powell as 鈥渁 patriot and a public servant,鈥 while House Republican Peter Meijer described him as a rarity in the modern age: 鈥渁 true soldier statesman.鈥
The family statement said Powell had been fully vaccinated.
Born April 5, 1937 in Harlem, Powell鈥檚 鈥淎merican Journey鈥 鈥 the title of his autobiography 鈥 started in New York, where he grew up and earned a degree in geology.
He also participated in the Reserve Officers鈥 Training Corps in college, and upon his graduation in June 1958, he received a commission as a second lieutenant in the US Army, and was posted in what was then West Germany.
Powell completed two tours of duty in Vietnam 鈥 in 1962-1963 as one of John F. Kennedy鈥檚 thousands of military advisers, and again in 1968-1969 to investigate the My Lai massacre.
He earned a Purple Heart.
But he also faced questions about the tone of his report into the hundreds of deaths at My Lai, which to some seemed to dismiss any claims of wrongdoing.
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