General Colin Powell, the first black American, former
US Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away on
Monday due to complications from Covid 19. He was fully vaccinated.
"We want to
thank the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center for their caring
treatment,” the Powell family said in a statement posted on Facebook. “We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father,
grandfather and a great American,” the family added.
Powell, born on April 5, 1937, in New York City, was
raised by Jamaican immigrant parents in the South Bronx. The family said
the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had been fully vaccinated
and was receiving treatment at Walter Reed National Medical Center. Powell reportedly
had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of cancer.
Following a decorated military career that included tours in
Vietnam, Powell held key military and diplomatic positions throughout
government, serving under both Democratic and Republican presidents. Powell
endorsed then-candidate Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Former President George Bush, who tapped Powell to serve as
his secretary of State, said he was “deeply saddened” by the military
leader’s death.
“Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of Colin
Powell.
He was a great public servant, starting with his time as a
soldier during Vietnam. Many Presidents relied on General Powell’s counsel and
experience,” Bush said in a statement.
“He was National Security Adviser under President Reagan,
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under my father and President Clinton,
and Secretary of State during my Administration. He was such a favorite of
Presidents that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom — twice.
He was highly respected at home and abroad. And most important, Colin was a
family man and a friend. Laura and I send Alma and their children our sincere
condolences as they remember the life of a great man,” he added.
Powell first joined the Reagan administration in 1987 as
national security adviser, becoming the first Black individual to serve in the
role. He later transitioned to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1989, a
position he held for four years under former Presidents George Bush and
Clinton.
Calls for Powell to wage a presidential bid ramped up ahead
of the 1996 election following the US-led coalition’s win in the Gulf War.
He ultimately passed on a campaign of his own, concluding that he did not
have a “passion” for elected politics.
The four-star general reentered the political sphere in
2001, when he was tapped by George Bush to serve as secretary of State,
breaking another barrier and becoming the first Black American to serve in the
role. He served in the post until 2005.
Powell led the US on the diplomatic front in the aftermath
of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, helping to secure support
from other countries for the war on terror and invasion of Afghanistan. The
secretary also faced criticism for his push for invading Iraq in 2003.
In a speech before the United Nations in February
2003, Powell showed what he said was evidence from US intelligence that
illustrated that the Iraqi military was misleading United Nations inspectors
and concealing weapons of mass destruction.
“There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological
weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more,” Powell said in
his speech.
Inspectors, however, later said that weapons of mass
destruction did not exist in Iraq.
In 2005, two years after Powell’s speech before the UN, a
government report concluded that the intelligence community was “dead wrong” in
its claim that Iraq was holding weapons of mass destruction prior to the United
States' invasion.
Powell later said his speech before the UN was a “blot” on
his record and recognized that it would be a part of his legacy, adding that he
regretted delivering the remarks.
“I regret it now because the information was wrong — of
course I do,” Powell told CNN’s Larry King in November 2010. “But I
will always be seen as the one who made the case before the international
community.” “I swayed public opinion, there's no question about it,” he added.
In his memoir “It Worked for Me,” published in 2012, Powell
again discussed the speech, writing that “the event will earn a prominent
paragraph in my obituary," according to CNN.
Powell studied at the City College of New York, where
he participated in ROTC.
After graduating in 1958, Powell joined the US Army and was
twice deployed to South Vietnam, where he was wounded twice.
Powell waded into the political arena during the Trump
administration, announcing after the January 6 attack on the Capitol that
he no longer considered himself a Republican.
Asked by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria if he believes “fellow
Republicans” who have not criticized former President Trump “encouraged,
at least, this wildness to grow and grow,” Powell said, “They did, and that’s
why I can no longer call myself a Republican.”
“I’m not a fellow of anything right now. I’m just a citizen
who has voted Republican, voted Democrat throughout my entire career, and right
now I’m just watching my country and not concerned with parties,” he said.
“I do not know how he
was able to attract all of these people. They should have known better, but
they were so taken by their political standing and how none of them wanted to
put themselves at political risk. They would not stand up and tell the truth or
stand up and criticize him or criticize others,” he added.
