Colin Powell, military leader and first Black US secretary of state, dies after complications from Covid-19 - CNNPolitics
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
(CNN)Colin Powell, the first Black US secretary of state whose leadership in several Republican administrations helped shape American foreign policy in the last years of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st, has died from complications from Covid-19, his family said on Facebook. He was 84.
"General Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from Covid 19," the Powell family wrote on Facebook. "We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American," they said, noting he was fully vaccinated. Powell was a distinguished and trailblazing professional soldier whose career took him from combat duty in Vietnam to becoming the first Black national security adviser during the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency and the youngest and first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush. His national popularity soared in the aftermath of the US-led coalition victory during the Gulf War, and for a time in the mid-90s, he was considered a leading contender to become the first Black President of the United States. But his reputation would be forever stained when, as George W. Bush's first secretary of state, he pushed faulty intelligence before the United Nations to advocate for the Iraq War, which he would later call a "blot" on his record. This story is breaking and will be updated.
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RIP. Patriotic man, first Republican to speak out against the racism Barack Obama faced as the first black president.
Was he not vaccinated? Or did he test positive prior to the vaccine rollout?
He was fully vaccinated, the family did not mention in the article if he had received a booster shot. But as been pointed out numerous times, no vaccine is 100% effective. He also had a lot of other issues that he was fighting off not to mention being 84.
He was one hell of a soldier and I pray for his family to find peace.
Um, he also had blood cancer, which decimates your immune system. Something the right wing all over Twitter is proudly ignoring this morning.
Cancer destroyed his immune system, so even with the vaccine, he was still at high risk.
I did not know that, thank you for the update. (you and Snuffy)
If you had watched his face, and seen the pained expression, when he said that there were WMDs in Iraq, you would have seen that he knew he was lying, but it was out of loyalty to his POTUS. He should have resigned instead, and as was noted in the seed, he could have become a great POTUS himself and I personally very much agree with that, and have said so on this site years ago.
Sorry, but that is bullshit. You are misinformed. I understand that this is what a lot of people have been led to believe, but it is simply not the case.
I watched his face when he said the words - did you? I just now watched a newscast where there was a clip of him more recently admitting that the matter of the WMDs has become questionable, which of course he could not amplify further due to preserving his own reputation.. Notwithstanding, I still think he was an outstanding American, and I would have much preferred if he had become POTUS instead of Trump.
Oh well that settles it, then. Tell me is that Science? Investigative Journalism? Or some heretofore unknown alchemy of both?
Do some actual research instead of relying on body language pseudo science. He believed the things he was saying because that’s what the intelligence said. Soon after, the CIA was telling him that their intelligence might be faulty, but by then it was too late.
By the way, the president had already decided to go even before Powell briefed the UN, so that speech did not set something in motion that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
The assertion that Colin Powell was deliberately lying to the UN is defamation based on nonsense.
I have just done some research and found that there are many sources that say he was lying, and many that indicate that he was misinformed by the CIA, etc. I considered THIS story to be believable...
There is no question that when he made the UN speech he had doubts about the information he was given, and he refused to go further and to blame Iraq for 9/11, and knowing that was going too far it's understandable that he could be concerned about all he was told. I think it is because he had doubts that I read his facial expression as discomfort. In my profession, which I practised for 37 years, it was necessary for me to interview face-to-face many individuals, and I did get to develop some sense of what was behind what was being told to me by watching the body language of those I was interviewing. You can doubt what I'm saying and I really don't give a shit.
Yeah, well I consider it a pretty significant moral failing that a person is willing to make allegedly factual defamatory declarations about a person based on “body language.” Such people almost never consider what it would be like to have that done to them. I’m not surprised you don’t give a shit.
I think that if you reread what I said you will see that I changed my interpretation to discomfort, in which case everyone can make their own judgement as to why. I made mine, as I believe many others did judging from the number of articles about it, and you're quite free to make your own interpretation, and I won't try to insult you as you did.
Obviously there are people who are not sufficiently educated in the realm of communication. I taught Business English for 6 years with a text that devoted a chapter to the importance of body language.
I see no reason to continue this dialogue.
You’re. Joking.
IMPASSE
.What a horrible thing to accuse him of. At least have a modicum of respect for the dead and wait a few days before slandering him.
Apparently you missed that I changed that to say I thought he looked uncomfortable, and everyone can interpret that however they wish. I know what I thought I saw.
Just like the Palestinians have been described as never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity, your comments never miss an opportunity to bash me.
A great, great man. His death is a tremendous loss.
I was lucky enough to be seated next to him and his lovely wife at a Desert Storm tribute concert when I returned from the UAE. RIP Sir.
My most sincere condolences and sympathies go out to his family and loved ones. He will truly be missed
May the family find peace. We lost a fine man.
RIP Mr. Colin Powell. (You did good.)
Such a sad loss. RIP, Sir
RIP Colin Powell, thank you for your service. May the winds be always at your back.
A great and historic American. He identified as a Republican, but he put country before party. He had a vision of what he believed America could be and he stood firm to those ideals.
I would have added the words "and self". Somehow I don't think there are many American lawmakers who would deserve that statement.
I used the maximum number of characters permitted on the headstone.