Colin Powell, first black US Secretary of State to be hit by Iraq war claims, dies of COVID-19 complications

Washington: Former first black US Secretary of State Colin Powell has died of COVID-19 complications at the age of 84, Fox News quoted his family members as saying. In a Facebook post from Colin Powell’s account, his family said, “General Colin L. Powell, former US Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from Covid 19.”

The post said, “He was fully vaccinated. We would like to thank the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center for the caring treatment he received. We have seen a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a loved one.” The great American is lost.”

Powell had served Democratic and Republican presidents in War and Peace, but his sterling reputation was forever tainted when he went before the United Nations and made faulty claims to justify the American war in Iraq.

vietnam war veteran

A Vietnam War veteran, Powell rose to the rank of four-star general and in 1989 became the first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In that role, he oversaw the US invasion of Panama and later the US invasion of Kuwait in 1991 to oust Iraqi forces.

Faulty Claims on the Iraq War

But his legacy was tarnished when, in 2003, he went to the United Nations Security Council as Secretary of State and made the case for a US war against Iraq at a moment of great international suspicion.

He claimed, citing misinformation, that Saddam Hussein had secretly concealed weapons of mass destruction. Iraq claims it has no weapons that represent a “web of lies”, he told the world body.

First blame al-Qaeda for the 9/11 attacks

Powell was the first US official to publicly plead guilty to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, and a lightning visit to Pakistan in October 2001 demanded that then-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf return to the United States. cooperate with. In following the Afghanistan-based group, which also had a presence in Pakistan, where bin Laden was later killed.

As President George W. Bush’s first Secretary of State, Powell led a State Department that was skeptical of the military and intelligence communities’ belief that Saddam Hussein had or was developing weapons of mass destruction.

And yet, despite his reservations, he presented the administration’s case that Saddam’s call for war in a speech to the United Nations Security Council was indeed a major regional and global threat.

The speech, which was filled with a vial demonstration of what he said could be a biological weapon, was later ridiculed as a low-point in Powell’s career, although he removed some elements. which he believed to be based on poor intelligence assessments. .

Bush said Monday that he and former First Lady Laura Bush were “deeply saddened” by Powell’s passing. “He was a great public servant” and “widely respected at home and abroad,” Bush said.

“And most important, Colin was a family man and a friend. Laura and I send our sincere condolences to Alma and her children remembering the life of a great man.”

Rise to National Prominence Under Republicans

Powell rose to national prominence under Republican presidents and considered his own presidential bid, but eventually withdrew from the party. He has supported Democrats in the last four presidential elections, beginning with former President Barack Obama. He has emerged as an outspoken Donald Trump critic in recent years, describing Trump as “a national disgrace” who should have been removed from office through impeachment.

After the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, Powell said he no longer considered himself a Republican.

Powell grew up in a nomadic neighborhood of New York since childhood to become the country’s chief diplomat. He wrote in his 1995 autobiography ‘My American Journey’, “Mine is the story of a black child who has no promises to an immigrant family of limited means, who was raised in the South Bronx.”

Powell discovered ROTC at City College. When he put on his first uniform, “I liked what I saw,” he wrote. He joined the military and in 1962 he was one of more than 16,000 military advisers sent to South Vietnam by President John F.

A series of promotions led to him serving as a military assistant to the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who became his unofficial sponsor. He later became commander of the Army’s 5th Corps in Germany and later became a national security assistant to President Ronald Reagan.

as Joint Chiefs Chairman

During his tenure as chairman of the United Chiefs, his approach to war became known as the Powell Doctrine, which held that the United States should only force a conflict if it had public support, sufficient Have clear and achievable objectives with firepower and elimination strategy. Warning.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a retired Army general, said the news of Powell’s death left “a hole in my heart”. “The world has lost one of the greatest leaders we have ever seen,” Austin said during a visit to Europe.

Powell’s appearances as Secretary of State at the United Nations, including his Iraq speech, were often reminiscent of his childhood in the city, where he had grown up as the child of Jamaican immigrants, who received their first job at Pepsi-Cola. was found. Bottling plant across the East River directly from the United Nations Headquarters.

A fan of calypso music, Powell was the subject of criticism from, among others, singing legend Harry Belafonte, who compared Powell to a “house slave” to go along with the decision to invade Iraq.

Powell denied being involved in a public feud with Belafonte, but stated that he was not a fan and was very fond of Trinidadian calypso star “Mighty Sparrow”.

Powell said in a 2012 interview with the Associated Press that on balance, the US was successful in Iraq. “I think we’ve had a lot of successes,” Powell said. “The terrible dictator of Iraq is gone.”

Saddam was captured by US forces in hiding in northern Iraq in December 2003 and later executed by the Iraqi government. But the rebellion escalated, and the war dragged on longer than ever. Obama pulled US troops out of Iraq in 2011, but sent advisers back in 2014 after the Islamic State group entered the country from Syria and captured large parts of Iraqi territory.

(with agency input)

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