Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell is dead

Colin Powell

The former US Secretary of State died as a result of a corona infection.

(Photo: Reuters)

Washington Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell died of complications from a corona infection at the age of 84. His family said that on Monday on social media. “We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father and grandfather, and a great American,” the family said. Powell was fully vaccinated against the corona virus.

Powell was a Republican member and US Secretary of State under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. Previously, in the late 1980s, he was National Security Advisor and Chairman of the General Staff.

Colin Powell’s life is the story of a formidable rise – and a deep fall. For many US citizens, he is a hero because he was one of the few African Americans to make it to the top in the military and politics. But his leading role in the Iraq war, which was based on the lie of weapons of mass destruction, severely damaged his reputation.

As the son of Jamaican immigrants, born in the former New York slums of Harlem, Powell climbed the career ladder of the US Army in the 1960s and 1970s, which were marked by massive discrimination. During the Vietnam War he was wounded in a helicopter crash while trying to save two comrades from death.

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Republican President Ronald Reagan appointed Powell National Security Advisor, and George HW Bush finally appointed him Supreme Army Chief. Powell became an idol of patriotism during the Gulf War against Saddam Hussein in the 1990s. But as George W. Bush’s foreign minister, it was he who pushed the Iraq war of 2003 and pushed for an international coalition that was viewed with skepticism, especially in Germany.

Powell last broke with the Republican Party

In February 2003, Powell delivered a historic speech to the United Nations claiming that US intelligence had clear evidence of weapons of mass destruction. “There can be no doubt,” said Powell. However, independent inspectors never found such weapons in Iraq, and most experts believe that the war was based on misinformation and the concealment of facts, which reached the highest ranks of the US government. Powell admitted mistakes years later. Of course I regret it, ”he told CNN in 2010.

In the last decade of his life, Powell broke with the Republican Party. His publicity in the African American community contributed to Barack Obama being elected to the White House. Powell was until recently one of the most prominent Trump opponents. He called Trump a “national disgrace” and supported Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden as presidential candidates in 2016 and 2020. Powell leaves three grown children and his wife, Alma Vivian Powell, to whom he was married for 50 years.

With material from ap

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